Miklós Vámos

Miklós Vámos is a Hungarian writer who has had over forty books published, many of them in multiple languages. He is the recipient of numerous literary accolades, including the 2016 Prima Primissima Award, one of the most prestigious awards in Hungary. His most successful book is The Book of Fathers, which has been translated into nearly thirty languages. His ancestors on his father’s side were Jews who perished in the Holocaust. Fortunately, his father—a member of a penitentiary march battalion—survived. Out of the five thousand Hungarian Jews sent off to their deaths late in World War II, only seven came back. His father was one of them. Vámos was raised in Socialist Hungary unaware he was a Jew. In an effort to save himself from his chaotic heritage, he turned to writing novels. His selected writings have appeared in Apofenie, Asymptote, The Forward, Hungarian Literature Online, The New York Times, and Tablet, among others.

FISH ON THE SHORE by Miklós Vámos, translated from Hungarian by Ági Bori

February 9, 2026 · Fiction

Silence and semi-darkness inside the market hall. Only the moon strolls among the empty stands, with a shopping basket on its arm. Faint lights on the counters and their retractable shutters. Loose apples and cabbages hiding under them. The building is somber, surrounded by dark houses. The windows—illuminated squares. There is not a single soul around at the market at this time but the fish in the aquarium. This is their time. Tubes carry whirring air under the water along the sidewalls. There is a lot of jostling for room. The stronger ones swim up to the edge of the…

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