Look to Hungary:
The wonderful world
of Hungarian silent books
Eggsistence by Kati Bódi is one of the most recent Hungarian silent books published, and a wonderful example of creativity and skill of the artists and publishers in the country
In just a few years, Hungary has gone from having almost no silent books published to a big burst of new titles, library collections and exhibitions. There is even an international silent book contest and an all-silent book publishing house in the country!
What happened?
In this article, we share a short overview of the history of Hungarian silent books, and present some of the current, very exciting titles coming from this beautiful country
Hooray for Hungary!
Photo: Krisztina Bilák
Anita from Readsilentbooks was very honored to give the opening speach at Weeskinders and Deak17's big silent book exhitibion september 2026. Zsuzsanna Blaschke, director at Weeskinders, announced their Silent book Contest winners.
If you are searching for silent books, Hungary might not be the first country that comes to mind. No wonder, as many other countries - like Italy, Korea, USA, Japan and France - has spent decades making solid contributions to the field. But what is currently happening in the Hungarian publishing industry is really exceptional and should not go unnoticed.
In just a few years, the country has gone from having a small handful of published silent books to a very active silent book scene. This september, I had the honor of opening a silent book exhitibion at the beautiful Deak17-gallery, a collaboration between the gallery and Hungarys silent book publishing house Weeskinders. I was delighted to find that the gallery is located right on one of the main streets, and that the exhibition was packed with people and press. Silent books usually do not stir that much interest, but Hungary has made it happen!
Hungary shows us that a few people can actually change...if not the world, then at least the local children's book scene. Follow this link to read our article of how a librarian and a publisher started this silent book community that is really special. Below, you can read a short introduction to the history of Hungarian silent books - a history we can all be inspired by!
Silent books are prominent in Hungarian book stores. Picture from the beautiful children's book store Pagony, where the staff showed a lot of knowledge about silent books.
Hungarian silent books
- from Sandor to Zoom to Eggsistence
1926: Bortnyik Sandor:
Potty és Pötty
_jfif.jpg)
Potty és Pötty - Kalandos Utazása (Potty and Pötty - and adventurous journey) might be the first Hungarian silent book. The author is Bortnyik Sandor, who was a famours illustrator and graphic designer. This is his only children's book, and it has the distinct illustrations style of flat, bright colors, figurative abstraction and two-dimensional characters that is also found in his graphic design work.
But although Sandor intended this to be a wordless story it has, to our knowledge, never been published without an accompanying text. In the first edition that was printed in Hungary, this text came in form of a poem, printed separately and stuck in the back of the book, so that it was still possible to enjoy a silent reading experience. In later edittions, like the ones printed in Germany, the publisher has added verses by Albert Sixtus on every spread. Researchers still counts this as a silent book though, because its intent was always wordless, and because the first editions (that unfortunately, are now very hard to find), might be read as so.
The book starts with two children playing with their kites. A strong wind lifts them up into the air, swooshing them into a fairytale- like land of candy, kings, fun toys and a circus, until they are safely carried back home by colorful balloons. These themes: travelling into imagination/magic realms, being blown away by the wind etc. have become common storylines also in modern silent books. Make sure not to miss out if you get a chance to get a hold of a copy, Potty és Pötty is a wonderful read even with the text.
1995: Istvan Banyai
Zoom
After Potty és Pötty, there seemd to have been a great leap - all the way to 1995! - until the next Hungarian silent book was published. Zoom by Istvan Banyai soon became a classic, and was published both in Hungary, Germany and the USA the debut year. It is still in print in many countries around the world.
Zoom is a true visual wonder. It plays with perspective, perceptions and the readers' expectations. Every time you think you know what you are looking at, the story changes. It starts with what looks like a rooster at a farm, and ends up in outer space.
One of the many great things about this book is that you can read it both ways, it is just as fun when you start in space and end up with the rooster as it is the other way around. Banyai's masterful use of pictures within pictures has earned this title a natural place at "best wordless/silent books"-lists all around the world. A truly unique and groundbreaking piece of work!
2007: Csimota
Design book series
2007 was another milestone for Hungarian silent books - although they did not actually know it at the time! Dóra Csányi, editor-in-chief at Csimota publishing house, has told that they did not have any intention of making silent books, they simply wanted to create a series that explored the transition from oral story to visual retelling*.
The Design book series consists of 23 books, all in the same, small format of 12x12 cm, only 20 pages each. The books are visual renditions of classical fairy tales, and the only textual element is the title of the book. These appear in a different language in each book, very much in the "silent book spirit" of transcending borders.
The main message is that the same story can be told in as many different ways as there are people. Most of these books are still in sale. This is indeed a very interesting series to collect, as so many innovative and original techniques are used to retell the fairytales.
*Source: Csupa-Kép Könyvek, Deak17 galery
2018: Kinga Rofusz
Otthon
Kinga Rofusz' beautiful silent book Otthon (Home) is by many mentioned as the real start of Hungarian silent books. During my visit to Budapest, several of the silent book authors I met mentioned this book as being both their introduction to the silent books, and important inspiration for their own work.
Rofusz is described as "one of the most important figures of contemporary Hungarian artists". Otthon creates space for the readers to explore their own ideas of home through a story of a small boy who is being forced to leave his.
She uses a combination of black and white illustrations paired with vibrant bursts of green and red. It is a beautiful, poetic, silent story, and Rofusz shows great mastery of visual storytelling. The artist has also created an eight minute long animated short film that both reinforces and compliments the book's narrative.
Otthon is published by Vivandra Könyvek.
2024: Myriam Babarczy
Juharfa Utca
In this book, Myriam Babarczy introduces the reader to all the people living in Juharfa Utca (Maple Street), through the eyes of a small, black cat. The book is published by Csimota.
The author touches on challenging subjects like bullying, loneliness and stress, but her compassionate point of view makes this a very hopeful and uplifting read: There are always solutions - there will always be friendship, compassion and love hiding behind next corner.
Babarczy's uses collage as her main technique. Her illustrations are both striking and very effective, her simple shapes hold so much expression. Almost all the illustrations offer a lot of empty space, places for the eyes to rest and for the imagination to "fill in the blanks". Using the cat as the main protagonist works wonderfully, as he both binds the different stories together and helps the other characters out of their ruts.
2024 - 2026: Weeskinders
Eight different titles...and counting!
Weeskinders is the only all-silent book Hungarian publisher. You can read more about the Weeskinders team and their history in this article.
They have published eight titles, which is very impressive as they just started in 2024. They have 20 more titles lined up for publications the next year, among them the winners and shortlist of their Silent book contest.
Weeskinders does not work with set formats that the artists have to adapt to, instead, they adapt the format to the unique needs of each book. By doing so, they have created surprising and innovative works of art, like the top-down leporello Eggsistence.
You can read reviews of some of their titles here:
Wishy Fish by Csilla Köszeghy
Paper Wings by Eszter Anna Rácz
Taming Hearts by Ágnes Kleman
Journey to cloud 9 by Coral Lyanne (review to be published soon)
Greg by Szofi Száraz
Pigeon Post by Ági Korbuly
Eggsistence by Kati Bódi
That morning by Eszter Anna Rácz (published just a week ago, not in our collection yet)
2024-2026: Mariann Máray
Several titles
Maryann Máray will be a familiar name to most lovers of silent books.
She has made a bold move into the silent book world, with five titles published in just a few years:
2024: Elérhetetlen (Unreachable, read our review here)
2024: Az a sok magányos embe (All the lonely people, not pictured)
2025: Így megy ez (So it goes)
2026: Amíg te Alszol (While you sleep)
2026: Kör! (Circle)
All are published by Csimota.
The years listed are the years for Hungarian publications, but some of the titles have been published in other European countries prior to their Hungarian launch.
At Readsilenbooks we are eager fans of Maray, and the entire collection are in the Fabel silent book library collection. If we had to pick a favourite, it would be Így Megy ez.
This is a book about the cycle of life, the title an intertextual reference to Kurt Vonnegut's quote from Slaughterhouse 5. Maray very skillfully portrays life and death side by side: how the one is fully dependent of the other. The illustrations are bursting with details that offer both depths to the reading and lots of small side stories to be told.
Maray tells the story with beauty, sensitivity and great respect for readers of all ages. Így megy ez offers the possibility for both aestetic and learning-oriented readings due to its unique portrayals of nature's life cycle. An instant silent book classic!
2025: Dániel Szinvai
Álmomban az esö
Dániel Szinvai is another Hungarian favourite at Readsilentbooks. Álmomban az esõ (Rain in my dream) follows a well-known silent book theme: A bored or dreaming child paints something that comes to life in their imagination/dreams.
But with Szinwais very elegang color palette, interesting steam-punk aestetics and art deco-inspired architecture, this theme is renewed to become a feast for both the eyes and the imagination. This silent book novel has countless of plots and stories hidden within its pages, without feeling overwhelming or confusing for the reader.
The publisher, Csimota, has done a great job with choosing the perfect format, and also with the cover: The translucent dust jacket looks and feels almost like a raincoat, and helps set the mood even before the reader has opened the book.
2026: Zsuzsanna Ivan
Album
Another very interesting, recent Hungarian title is Album by Zsuzsanna Iván. Album portrays the life of a family through illustrations of the families pictures, so that the book reads like a photo album. The reader gets to visit both the past and the present: All those places, objects and moments that adds up to become a human life.
The book can also be read as an exploration of what remains of all this: The vacations, the dollhouse, the family members, grandmother's cooking...
Ivan masterfully portrays the passing of time through the fading of the pictures.
A silent book that is truly for all ages, it will awaken curiosity and questions from children, and feelings of nostagia and maybe also loss with adult readers.
Album won the Silent book category at Billfest in 2026. It was published by Csimota.
