Henriett Seth F.

Henriett Seth F. (born Henrietta Fajcsák in Eger in 1980) is a Hungarian poet, writer and artist who became internationally known before the age of thirty. She is regarded as an autistic savant, and her story has helped bring the debate about savant syndrome, and about how communication in childhood is understood, to a wider audience.

Her childhood was difficult. In 1987 the primary schools in her hometown refused to admit her because of her communication difficulties, and she was placed in a music and art class. Since she never sang, in 1989 she was moved to a school for pupils with intellectual disabilities. She played the flute and the double bass and performed in concerts until the age of thirteen, when she gave up music. She had been writing poetry and making visual art since childhood. At eighteen she received the Géza Gárdonyi Prize for her literature and art, and she then studied at Eszterházy Károly College.

Writing brought her the most attention. In 2005 a documentary about her, Esőlány ("Rain Girl"), appeared, and that same year she published Autizmussal önmagamba zárva, an autobiographical book about her experience. The following year she wrote the novel Autizmus – Egy másik világ, which was published in an anthology by the University of Pécs. Her creative writing career was short: she stopped writing creatively at twenty-five and gave up painting before turning twenty-seven.

Her story also reached the stage. In 2010 the company Orlai Produkciós Iroda staged a monodrama based on her book, which was performed in several Hungarian towns and was programmed again in Budapest and Gyöngyös in 2011.

Her legacy is above all testimonial. Her texts offer a first-person view of autism and have been read as a counterweight to stereotypes about the talents of autistic people. Her intelligence test results, which are often cited, should be read with caution.