Kelemen Mikes

Born in Transylvania in 1690, Kelemen Mikes was a Hungarian writer, translator, and close companion to Prince Francis II Rákóczi. He followed Rákóczi into exile through Poland, France, and eventually the Ottoman Empire, remaining loyal to him and later to his memory.

Mikes is remembered above all for Letters from Turkey, a collection of fictional letters shaped by the long years he spent in exile at Rodosto. In them, he mixed everyday detail, reflection, humor, and longing for home in a way that helped lay the foundations of modern Hungarian prose.

Though he lived far from Hungary for most of his adult life, his writing secured his place in Hungarian literature. Readers still return to him for the warmth and intimacy of his style, and for the vivid picture he gives of a life lived between history and private feeling.