Magda Szabó (1917-2007) is considered one of Hungary's greatest novelists. Her prose, dramas, essays, and poetry have been published in forty-two countries and in 2003 she was awarded the Prix Femina Étranger for The Door. The NYRB Classics edition of The Door was selected as one of the New York Times 10 Best Books of 2015. NYRB Classics also publishes her novels Iza's Ballad and Katalin Street.

Len Rix is a poet, critic, and former literature professor. In 2006, he was awarded the Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize for his translation of Magda Szabó's The Door.