On Friday, May 15, starting at 5:00 p.m., Gábor Tompa, director of the Hungarian Theatre of Cluj, will host a conversation with József Attila Prize-winning poet Éva Farkas Wellmann in the theater’s Studio. The event is part of the theatre’s series of literary events and its title reflects on the poet’s 2020 collection Magaddá rendeződni, published by the Előretolt Helyőrség Writers’ Academy.

Éva Farkas Wellmann was born in 1979 in Târgu Mureș. She completed her studies in Hungarian and English at Babeș–Bolyai University, where she also earned her master’s and doctoral degrees; her research focused on 18th-century Hungarian literature.

Between 2002 and 2012, she worked as a teacher and editor, including at the Lexicon of Hungarian Literature in Romania. She has been the editor of Bárka and Bárkaonline since 2012, and deputy editor-in-chief since 2019; she is also a contributor to Unitárius Élet. Since 1997, she has been publishing poems, studies, reviews, and essays; her works have been translated into several languages. Her stage works include puppet plays and translations of plays.

Her most important awards and scholarships: Látó Quality Award (Târgu Mureș, 2000); György Méhes Debut Award (Cluj-Napoca, 2002); Artisjus Scholarship (Budapest, 2004); Petőfi Scholarship (Budapest, 2005), János Székely Scholarship (Budapest, 2007), MTA Scholarship for Hungarian Scholarship Beyond Borders (Budapest, 2011), Irodalmi Jelen Poetry Award (Budapest, 2012), Zsigmond Móricz Scholarship (Budapest, 2014), MMA Arts Scholarship (2018–2021), Attila József Prize (2021), János Térey Creative Scholarship (2025).

Regarding the poetry collection titled Magaddá rendeződni, János Dénes Orbán writes the following about Éva Farkas Wellmann’s poetry: “I don’t know if there is a contemporary poet who strives for perfection more than Éva Farkas Wellmann. She writes rarely, as the saying goes: she writes down only her good poems. We’ve grown accustomed to this, yet she always surprises, shocks, and stirs us. She is both a virtuoso artist and a precise engineer. She is classical yet unconventional, and unmistakably individual.

In this new book, she invites us on a journey through poetry that is more colorful and varied than ever before. We can navigate serious themes—love, faith, metaphysics—and so much more, on light-footed verses. A specific, wry yet endearing sense of detachment—the way she sees the world—is our poet’s main spice, not to mention the stunning elegance with which she commands language and form.

Reading these poems, we immediately realize: no matter what the era, there are chosen ones who pass on the poetry and poetic spirit that remain relevant in every age.”

Tickets for the discussion are available for 10 lei at the theatre box office (weekdays between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.) and online at huntheater.biletmaster.ro.