John János Miska - Author Bibliographer Librarian

John Miska is a librarian by profession, but he is also known for his books of stories, essays, anthologies and translations published in Hungarian and English. His three-volume bibliography, Canadian Studies on Hungarians, is a major source of information in Canadian Hungarology. His other bibliography, Ethnic and Native Canadian Literature, published by the University of Toronto Press in 1990, is one of the most comprehensive works on the subject.

He was born in 1932 in Nyírbéltek, Hungary and received his elementary education in his hometown. In 1953 he graduated from the Bocskai István Secondary School in Hajdúböszörmény, and continued his studies at the Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest (ELTE), majoring in comparative literature and journalism. His studies were disrupted by the defeat of the 1956 Revolution. He escaped the country and arrived in Canada in 1957 and continued his education at McMaster University, Hamilton, majoring in History and Philosophy, graduating in 1961. Also attended the University of Toronto Library School and graduated in 1962.

He held positions at the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, as head of the Engineering Library, and worked for 25 years for Agriculture Canada in Ottawa, as head of the Acquisitions Department, and area coordinator and regional director of libraries in Alberta and Central Canada, respectively. He was involved in converting the traditional manual library practices to automated systems. He has published 22 book-length bibliographies in the fields of the agricultural sciences and the humanities. After serving the profession for 30 years, John took early retirement, relocated to Victoria, B.C. in 1992, and has lived there with his wife, Marie, ever since.

In addition to his professional work, over the years he has retained contact with literature and Hungarian studies. Founder of the Hungarian-Canadian Authors’ Association, he is regarded as one of the prime movers of Hungarian literature in Canada. He has published a series of anthologies, and authored some essays on the accomplishments of Hungarian-Canadian research scientists, scholars, artists and writers. His collections of stories, literary studies and essays appear in chronological order under the Bibliography menu on this website.

For his literary and professional accomplishments John has received numerous acknowledgements, including more than a dozen grants from such institutions as the University of Manitoba, the Secretary of State (Heritage Canada), and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. The latter was in the amount of $75,000 that assisted him in the compilation of the ethnic and native Canadian bibliography. He is also a recepient of several awards, including the Queen’s Jubilee Medal (1977), an Alberta Achievement Award for Excellence in Literature (1978), and a silver and gold medal from the Cleveland-based Árpád Academy, for his books of stories and essays. Perhaps the highest honour received was in 2004, when he was inducted into the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. In 2005 his hometown named him an honorary citizen.
In his retirement he has edited for five years the Vancouver-based monthly periodical Tárogató. He has also edited the bi-monthly paper Szigeti Magyarság and is at work on a biographical novel, The Way We Lived.

As an update to John's work and accomplisments, 2011 has been a decisive year in his life. After the passing of his wife, Marie, he took solace in writing. He wrote stories, essays, literary monographs and memoirs, publishing them, along with earlier works, in five collections, four in Hungarian, one, his book-length memoirs, in English. They are listed on this website under Bibliography. In 2012, he married Elizabeth, a widow in Budapest. The couple spends half a year in Victoria and a half year in Budapest.

John's work has been well received in his native Hungary. He has been a frequent speaker at universities and conferences. He autographed his books at national and regional book fairs, and gave interviews to the media and film producers on Hungarian-Canadian literature and other aspects of Hungarian-Canadian social and cultural life from 1886 to the present. He has been regarded as an ambassador to two nations. The Canadian Embassy in Budapest organized a literary afternoon (2012), honouring John for serving Hungary and Canada as an author and bibliographer. Further honours succeeded. The Mayor of the city of Hajdúböszörmény, His Worship Attila Kiss, declared John a Distinguised Citizen (2013). The same year, the President of Hungary, The Hon. János Áder, honoured him with the Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit of Hungary. The Canadian Chancellery consented to his wearing of that distinct medal.