Magda Szécsi was born in 1958 in Komádi, Hungary, and is now based in Budapest. She spent her childhood in a government orphanage until she turned eighteen years old. After finishing secondary school in Budapest she participated in a Hungarian–Polish student programme and graduated from the Warsaw College Of Medicine. She worked in healthcare for two years, but then shifted her interest towards art. She has been doing pen drawings since 1984, with works published in various magazines and books. Since the 1990s she has also been painting in oil.

Szécsi has been active as a freelancer since 1988. In recent years her illustrations have been published in books, but they can be considered independent works of art. In 2000, she was honoured with the Noémi Ferenczy Award.

Her professional career as a writer is also worthy of note; she has written stories for children, love poems, short stories, as well as long-short stories. In 2006, her book Time Shredder was published, followed a year later by Gypsy Mandala.

Szécsi has participated in numerous exhibitions throughout Hungary. Her works have been displayed in private collections and in the Roma Parliament collection, and can still be found in the Museum of Ethnography in Budapest.

References

http://www.sulinet.hu/oroksegtar/data/magyarorszagi_nemzetisegek/romak/cigany_festeszet_magyarorszag_1969_2009/pages/cfm_67_szecsi_magda.htm

Awards

2000 Ferenczy Noémi Award