Hailing from a small ethnic Hungarian village in Transylvania, Sándor Kányádi (1929–2018) lived his life in Romania where through his work as a writer, translator, and editor he endeavored to keep his language and culture alive amid an often hostile environment. There was probably no Hungarian town or village of any size in the whole Carpathian Basin that Kányádi had not visited to recite in schools and libraries not only his owns poems but also the Hungarian classics (and always from memory). Like all great poets his work encompasses many styles and forms, often incorporating elements of folk songs and popular myth. A recipient of many literature awards in Europe, including the top prizes in Romania and Hungary both, this is the first comprehensive volume of his poetry to be published in English.

"Thanks to Sohar's determination to keep as much as possible of the regular rhymes and meters that are so natural, he says, to all Hungarian poetry, these translations dance, and they keep dancing when they shift into free verse." — Booklist, starred review