Lóránt Czigány (1935–2008) was a Hungarian writer, literary historian, professor, and diplomat. He studied Hungarian language and literature and history at the University of Szeged (1954–1956). After the Revolution of 1956, he emigrated to the West. In 1957–1958, he studied at the University of Oxford, and he studied at the University of London in 1958–1960. Between 1962 and 1969, he was a special rapporteur on Hungarian material at the Library of British Museum. In 1969–1973 he taught Hungarian language and literature at the University of California (Berkeley). He was a contributor to the BBC and The Times. In 1965, he was one of the founding members of the Szepsi Csombor Circle in London, he was editor of the Circle’s publications. Between 1977 and 1996 he was a member of the executive body of the International Hungarian Philological Society. He was a guest professor at the Eötvös József College in Budapest in 1986 and 1989. In 1990–1991, he was extraordinary legate and delegated minister at the Hungarian Embassy in London. In 1992–1994, he was a main consultant at the Hungarian Foreign Office. In 1995 he was a guest professor at the University of Miskolc.