In 1971 Zsolt Csalog took part in a prominent Roma-research project on the social and educational conditions and employment rate of the Hungarian Roma and on Roma identity. The project was organized by the sociologist István Kemény at the Institute for Sociology of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. During and after the research project Csalog started to record interviews with members of the Roma communities that were important resources both from the perspective of his interests in the social sciences and from the perspective of his literary work.

In 1973, he published the first Roma-portrait in Valóság. This was followed by a book in 1976 entitled Nine Gypsies (Autobiography reports). As the author himself noted, the purpose of the book was to construct a different representation of the Hungarian Roma, disputing  prevalent stereotypical and mostly negative images of Roma and thereby perhaps promoting solidarity and acceptance of the Hungarian Roma. The book contains long portraits of nine Roma of various age groups (mostly young adults) and both genders. The anonymised characters speak about their life and work, including the issue of interethnic relationships between “Hungarians” and Roma (conflicts, assimilation), everyday discrimination, poverty, and integration into the new socialist society. As he did in his previous novels, Csalog created new, coherent narratives from the texts, and he strove to preserve the original voice/intonation of the speakers in Nine Gypsies. This poetic style was closely connected to a social program as well which was intended to help the Hungarian Roma.