Hungarian novelist, born in Kassa in 1900 and died in the United States in 1989. Escaping first the fascists during World War II, and subsequently the Communists, he made his way to Italy and then to the USA.
Márai's works were somewhat well-known in Europe, but were unknown to the English-speaking world until recently "rediscovered". They are now being translated into English and will be published/distributed, in North America at least, by Knopf/Random House, beginning with the gorgeous novel Embers in September of 2001. Details about this novel, and a little about Márai, are available with a little searching at amazon.com or chapters.indigo.ca.
Critics are claiming a similarity in style between Márai's works and those of Franz Kafka, Joseph Roth and Thomas Mann. After having read Embers, I see no great similarity between it and Kafka (the only three of the mentioned writers whom I have read), except of course in geography, as both writers were from and set their stories in Central European locations.
Some info taken from the preview edition of "Embers".