thumb|250px|right|The greatest authors and poets in the Hungarian literature of the 19th century
Hungarian literature is the body of written works primarily produced in Hungarian, and may also include works written in other languages (mostly Latin), either produced by Hungarians or having topics which are closely related to Hungarian culture. While it was less known in the English-speaking world for centuries, Hungary's literature gained renown in the 19th and 20th centuries, thanks to a new wave of internationally accessible writers like Mór Jókai, Antal Szerb, Sándor Márai, Imre Kertész and Magda Szabó.
Earliest writings in the 10th-14th century
thumb|The oldest surviving poem of Hungarian language, [[Old Hungarian 'Lamentations of Mary'|Old Hungarian Laments of Mary]]
thumb|[[Gesta Hungarorum]]
thumb|[[Chronicon Pictum, the "Illuminated Chronicle" from the court of King Louis the Great of Hungary from 1358]]
The beginning of the history of Hungarian language as such (the proto-Hungarian period) is set at 1000 BC, when according to current theory, the language had become differentiated from its closest relatives, the Ob-Ugric languages. No written evidence remains of the earliest Hungarian literature, but through folktales and folk songs, elements have survived that can be traced back to pagan times. Also extant, although only in Latin and dating from between the 11th and 14th centuries, are shortened versions of some Hungarian legends relating the origins of the Hungarian people and episodes from the conquest of Hungary and from campaigns of the 10th century. Thus, the year 1473 is considered the beginning of Hungarian book printing. In fact, the number of printing houses was not too high at that time. At the end of the 1470s, 66 printing houses could operate in Europe, of which two were in the Kingdom of Hungary (in Buda and Pozsony (now Bratislava)).