Ivan Kovacs

Pagan Prayer Ivan Kovacs

Iván Kovács' engagement with poetry started in his high school days and has been with him throughout his life. As a Hungarian South African poet, he has published his work in numerous South African literary journals, both in English and Afrikaans. He has translated several Hungarian poets into English, amongst them Attila József, György Faludy and Jenö Heltai. By József he had published "Suburban Night and Other Poems" and by Faludy "Villon Ballads." These collections have been positively reviewed by the well-known South African poet and reviewer, Joan Hambidge on her blog "Woorde Wat Weeg." The present collection contains poems by Kovács from his earlier efforts to the present, mainly in English, but also a few written in Afrikaans. Under the section "Translations" are a selection of poems by Heltai, József, Faludy, and Goethe, the later translated from the German. Other publications by Kovács, written in a philosophical vein, are "The Path to Higher States of Consciousness" and "Pioneers of Tibet" and show Kovács' involvement with esotericism and Oriental thought.