In 2025, Erdő van idebenn (There’s a Forest Inside) won the Margó Prize for Best First Book of Prose. This was Marcsi Tóth’s first book, brought out by Magvető, and it had been in the making since 2011.

It takes place in the world of provincial Hungary, set to the sound of ice cream vans, with a mother moving back to her village, deep in a forest, with her teenage daughter, to work at her friend’s boarding house.

This is not a novel about a village; it is about our life, where we try to get by. It is equally raw and poetic, brutal and naive, frightful and enticing.

In Müpa Budapest, the host László Valuska will ask the author about the journey to her first book of prose, what she has been doing since then, the public response and the new things she’s working on, as well as about extremes in everyday life, opportunities in North-East Hungary, major female role models, and how the representation of rural Hungary defines our thinking.

Place: Palace of Arts Budapest

Address: 1095 Budapest, Komor Marcell utca 1