Károly Molter (in Hungarian pronounced as /ˈkaːroj ˈmoltɛr/; 2 December 1890 - 30 November 1981) was a Hungarian novelist, dramatist, literary critic, journalist and academic. He spent most of his life in the region of Transylvania, being successively a national of Austria-Hungary and Romania.
Born in Óverbász (Vrbas), Vojvodina region, Molter was from an ethnic German (Danube Swabian) family, but adopted Hungarian as his language.[1] He studied at the College of Kecskemét, and then at the University of Budapest Faculty of Philosophy in Letter (the Hungarian-German section).[1]
In 1913, he moved to Transylvania, settling down in Marosvásárhely (Târgu Mureş).[1] Between 1913 and 1945, he was a teacher in the Bolyai Gymnasium, a Reformed Church college in the city.[1] In the interwar period, after the union of Transylvania with Romania, he became a member of the Erdélyi Helikon group in Marosvécs (Brâncoveneşti), as well as sitting on the editorial staff of Zord Idő magazine.[1] In 1937, he published one of his most successful works, the novel Tibold Márton, which depicted a Swabian family in the process of adopting Hungarian culture, as well as the problems faced by ethnic minorities in their relation to the majority.[1]
After 1945, Molter was employed by the Bolyai faculty in Cluj, where he lectured in German language and literature.[1] Retiring in 1950, he moved back to Târgu Mureș, and died there 31 years later.[1]