Menyhért Lakatos (April 11, 1926, Vésztő — August 21, 2007, Budapest) was a Hungarian Romani writer."Lakatos Menyhért", a bio at the Lakatos Menyhért School website, citing Lajos Rácz, Roma értelmiségiek arcképcsarnoka
Since 1988 he was President of the Hungarian Romani Cultural Association (Magyarországi Cigányok Kulturális Szövetsége).
His most famous book, Füstös képek ("Images in Smoke", translated in English as The Color of Smoke) is a novel based on personal experience, set in World War II. It is a bildungsroman that shows life in a Roma village in Northeast Hungary, from 1940 until the German occupation of the country in 1944 when Roma people were put into death camps. While filled with amusing anecdotes, a petty criminal subplot, and adolescent eroticism, it portrays dehumanization of Romani in the society."Hungary's future: anti-immigration, anti-multiculturalism and anti-Roma?", August 4, 2015,
The Lakatos Menyhért School in Budapest is named in his honour.
Books 1975: Füstös képek Bulgarian: Окадени картини, 1977 German: Bitterer Rauch. Verlag Volk und Welt. Berlin 1978 (), 1979, 1980, 1982 French: Couleur de fumée : une épopée tzigane, Paris, Actes Sud, 1986. English: The Color of Smoke: An Epic Novel of the Roma, 2015, 1975: Angárka és Busladarfi 1979: A hét szakállas farkas 1979: A paramisák ivadékai 1981: Az öreg fazék titka 1981: Csandra szekere German: Csandras Karren. Zigeunergeschichten. Volk und Welt, Berlin 1984 1982: Akik élni akarta 1995: Hosszú éjszakák meséi German: Märchen der langen Nächte. Roma-Märchen. Wieser Verlag, Klagenfurt 2004 (), 1999 1998: A titok 1999: Tenyérből mondtál jövendőt
Awards Significant awards include:"LAKATOS MENYHÉRT", Kortárs magyar írók (Contemporary Hungarian writers), 1998, 2000: National Romani Self-Government Lifetime Achievement Award 1999: 1995: Book of the Year Award 1993: Attila József Prize 1976: Attila József Prize 1976:
References