Szilárd Demeter

Writer Szilárd Demeter was appointed head of the Petőfi Literary Museum (PIM) in December 2018, made permanent from 1 February 2019, and reappointed for another five-year term on 1 December 2023. In August 2019 he was also named ministerial commissioner for the integrated development of Hungary's book sector and literary collections, a role that added a monthly gross 650,000 forints and an official car to his museum director's salary — at a time when the National Széchényi Library was running a 640-million-forint deficit and its IT librarians were leaving one after another for better-paid private-sector jobs. In a November 2021 Telex interview, Demeter said he would 'throw eighty percent of Hungarian literature in the trash' and made dismissive remarks about theatre. Writer Gergely Péterfy, in an HVG op-ed, called these statements the kind no institutional director could make about their own field in any civilized country, framing Demeter's leadership of PIM as installed for political loyalty rather than professional standing.