This article examines the translation and distribution of Hungarian, mainly contemporary literature in German speaking countries. Before the political turn in 1989, Hungarian literature was hardly perceived, with the exception of the ex-Eastern German area of reception. After 1990 this literature received a sudden fresh impetus with an emphasis on avant-garde, experimental texts and literary short forms which where awarded with various prizes. This image only changed with the translation of authors like Péter Esterházy, Péter Nádas and the Nobel Prize winner Imre Kertész: today the German speaking market is determined, among others, by well established Hungarian authors.