Biography

Amb. Katalin Bogyay is Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Hungary to the UN- New York( 2015-). She has previously served as Former President of UNESCO General Conference ( 2011- 2013)  and Ambassador and Permanent Delegate of Hungary to UNESCO(2009-2014).

Following the fall of communism, in 1990 she became the first Hungarian television personality to be awarded a Know How Fund Scholarship to study media in democracy at the BBC. Bogyay started her career as a theatre and music critic, later becoming a presenter, producer and senior editor of Music and the Arts at the Hungarian National Television (Magyar Televízió or MTV). After hosting many concert galas and interviewing celebrities from all over the world, she hosted her own show entitled ‘Katalin Bogyay and her Guests.’

Bogyay has also written and published four books: Dajka (1989), In Memoriam Pilinszky (1990), My Meetings in the World (1996), which covers some of the global figures she has interviewed and The Voice of Freedom (2006) which features interviews concerning the 1956 revolution. In 1999 she was appointed as a diplomat and began working for the Hungarian Ministry for Culture.

As Director General she opened the Hungarian Cultural Centre in 1999 in the heart of London’s Covent Garden. In 2007 Bogyay was selected by the London School of Economics and the Financial Times Business as one of the Top 50 thinkers in media. Between 2006 and 2009 Bogyay served as the State Secretary for International Affairs at the Hungarian Ministry of Education and Culture.

“Towards a Global Human Rights Culture: The Need for a Collective Alliance in the Protection & Promotion of Human Rights”

A Lecture by Ambassador and Permanent Delegate of Hungary to UNESCO; President of UNESCO’s General Conference 2011 – 2013, President Katalin Bogyay

“My claim would be that we need to think unconventionally, starting from looking into our cultural traditions to redefine how we relate to each other and to the environment in which we live in. The thinking should start with, and be based on the right type of values that underpin social justice and can be found within our cultures. This is the type of thinking that lies in the heart of UNESCO.”