Kornél Hamvai Born in 1969, freelance writer and translator Kornél Hamvai studied English at ELTE University in his native Budapest and at the University of Oxford. He served as a literary consultant and writer-in-residence at Budapest's National Theatre between 2003 and 2008, and since 2014 has worked as the literary manager at the Thália Theatre, also in Budapest. He is best known in Hungary for his prize-winning plays and numerous translations for the theatre (including dramas by Middleton, Chekhov, Steinbeck, Williams, Miller, Albee, Pinter, Stoppard and comedies by Beaumarchais, Labiche, Cooney, Frayn, and especially Feydeau, whose collected farces are currently being prepared for publication in Hamvai's translation.) Several of his plays have been produced abroad, most notably Headsman's Holiday, which was performed in several countries, including a 2005 run at the Theater Alliance in Washington, D.C. that was praised as "easily the funniest comedy of the season" by the Washington Examiner. He has also created adaptations for the stage, including one of Michael Frayn's farce Balmoral. Since 1995, he has been credited on more than 150 productions at some 20 theatres around Hungary. His publications include two novels (which won accolades for “best first novel” and “best novel of the year”) and a collection of his plays (four of which were named “best new play of the year”). Love and Other Demons, a four-language adaptation of the García Márquez novel, is his sole opera libretto to date.