The Margo Literary Festival was a great experience, where I had the pleasure of taking part in the book discussion with veteran journalist, editor and political scientist Szabolcs Dull. This was the first time since the official book launch that the book — and, of course, its author — was able to speak publicly from a new perspective, although this time the focus was not on the creative intent, but on the story’s political and social context.
Szabolcs Dull brought questions that opened up new directions in the story. He did not merely reflect on the book, but examined it in layers: what it says about us, about our present, about the systems we move within. About the society we live in. His precise, factual and nuanced questions made it clear just how differently the text functions in a political interpretative space than within a purely literary context.
I feel that We All Leave is at once entertaining, thought-provoking and bold — in other words, it does not shy away from difficult questions either. Perhaps that is exactly why it can work in so many different ways, and I am incredibly happy about that, because as an author, that is above all what I could hope for.
Thank you to everyone who came to Margo, and I would also like to thank Szabolcs once again for the taboo-free conversation. I am grateful to the organisers and to my publisher for supporting this book, and me!
We All Leave is now available in bookshops and online, in print and in digital format. A thriller about today’s Hungary, about power, identity, and what remains of us when everyone else leaves. Please read it!
Best regards,
David