József Pusztai – originally József Pozderecz, (b. January 26, 1864, d. February 13, 1934) – was a Slovene writer, poet, journalist, teacher and cantor in Hungary

Hungary

Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

. He was also known under the pen name of Tibor Andorhegyi.

Born in Beltinci

Beltinci

Beltinci is a settlement and a municipality in the Prekmurje region of northeastern Slovenia. The municipality has 8,256 inhabitants...

, Prekmurje

Prekmurje

Prekmurje is a geographically, linguistically, culturally and ethnically defined region settled by Slovenes and lying between the Mur River in Slovenia and the Rába Valley in the most western part of Hungary...

, his parents was János Pozderecz and Franciska Nemecz. His surname was modified to Pusztai because he thought of himself as Hungarian and felt it was the duty of ethnic Slovenes to assimilate. In Čakovec

Cakovec

Čakovec is a city in northern Croatia, located around 90 kilometres north of Zagreb, the Croatian capital. Čakovec is both the county seat and largest city of Međimurje County, the northernmost, smallest and most densely populated Croatian county.-Population:...

 and Pécs

Pécs

Pécs is the fifth largest city of Hungary, located on the slopes of the Mecsek mountains in the south-west of the country, close to its border with Croatia. It is the administrative and economical centre of Baranya county...

 he studied to be a teacher, graduating in 1883. After first having worked in Szőce

Szoce

Szőce is a village in Vas county, Hungary....

 (in the Őrség region), in 1889 he returned to Prekmurje. From 1889 until 1919 he worked in Martjanci

Martjanci

Martjanci is a village between Murska Sobota and Moravske Toplice in the Prekmurje region of Slovenia.It is known for its parish church dedicated to Saint Martin, from which the village gets its name. It is a single-nave church built in 1392 on the site of an older church...

, near Murska Sobota

Murska Sobota

Murska Sobota is a city in northeastern Slovenia. It is located in the eponymous municipality near the Mura River in the region of Prekmurje and is the regional capital.-Name:...

, where he wrote the first hymnal

Hymnal

Hymnal or hymnary or hymnbook is a collection of hymns, i.e. religious songs, usually in the form of a book. The earliest hand-written hymnals are known since Middle Ages in the context of European Christianity...

 in the Prekmurian language. He wrote articles for Muraszombat és Vidéke ("Murska Sobota and district"), for Értesítő in Szombathely

Szombathely

Szombathely is the 10th largest city in Hungary. It is the administrative centre of Vas county in the west of the country, located near the border with Austria...

, and for Dober pajdás ("Good friend") in Szentgotthárd

Szentgotthárd

Szentgotthárd is the westernmost town of Hungary. It is situated on the Rába River near the Austrian border, and is home to much of Hungary's small Slovene ethnic minority....

. In 1919 he returned to his hometown of Beltinci.

Works

• Krcsánszko katholicsanszko pesmi z iz potrejbnimi molitvami i vnógimi vogrszkimi peszmami / Kersztény katholikus egyházi énekek a legszükségesebb imákkal és több magyar énekkel ("Catholic Hymnal with Essential Prayers", Prekmurian and Hungarian
  Hungarian language
  Hungarian is a Uralic language, part of the Ugric group. With some 14 million speakers, it is one of the most widely spoken non-Indo-European languages in Europe....
  
  text)
• Dober pajdás (1899, 1900, 1901)
• Mála molitvena kniga z potrejbnimi molitvani i vnó gimi peszmami za katholicsanszko mladézen / Kis imakönyv a legszükségesebb imákkal és énekekkel a kath. ifjúság számára ("Small Prayer-Book with Essential Prayers for Catholic Youth", Hungarian and Prekmurian text)