András Maros

I have a five-year-old daughter who demands a ritual. Our morning schedule depends on who is taking her to kindergarten that day. If it is not my turn, I can take my time in the morning. I worked as a freelance writer for a long time. In the mornings, I went to a café and spent the day there writing and working. Nowadays I work for an agency and I have to be there on time.

I mostly only listen to music while I am working. It helps a lot. I lived in France for a short period of time; after I returned to Hungary, I listened to French rock for two or three years. My favourite band is Mickey 3D.

I have many, mainly classics. I will highlight two: Don Quixote and The Pickwick Papers (by Dickens). I also like Chekhov's short stories. It keeps changing who my favourite contemporary author is. (By the way, I am currently reading short stories by Heltai. I do not know how it came to me to read them again. In any case, they are very entertaining.)

I lived in a lot of places when I was involved in sports. For a long time, I lived in the United States near the Canadian border, but I never crossed it. Maybe that is the reason why I am so drawn to Canada. To be more precise, Vancouver, inexplicably. One of my plays was invited to Vancouver to a theatre festival, but unfortunately I could not go.

There was a time when I enjoyed cooking, but the passion waned. Nowadays I prefer going to restaurants.

I hardly follow the news, I only read the headlines. I try to keep a distance from politics.

I have a subscription to New Yorker, I read it regularly.

Long pants.

There must be a lot of these. For example leather slippers, or sandals with socks.

Rather late, although there were some signs when I was a child. Once, when I was moving to another place, I came across a short story I wrote when I was ten. It was published in the magazine of the company for which my mother used to work. I started publishing writings when I was 24. I started out as a journalist. As time went by, I incorporated more and more fictional elements into my writings. That is how I gravitated toward fiction.

Less and less frequently.

Always the latest writing I complete.

With Ferenc Molnár at the Centrál café.

I started working under the editorship of Jolsvai András (a writer and journalist). His encouragement and support had a big impact on me. A similar mentor who encouraged me was László Garaczi. But I could mention some fascinating reads, for example Don Quixote again, as influences.

I could not really give them any advice. I feel sorry for them that they have to live in a world that depends on technology.