Wisława Szymborska

Maria Wisława Anna Szymborska (2 July 1923 - 1 February 2012) was a Polish poet, essayist, and translator who received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1996. Born in Prowent (now part of Kórnik), she lived in Kraków until her death. In Poland, Szymborska's books outsold those of prominent prose authors, despite the fact that she wrote in a poem, "Some Like Poetry" ("Niektórzy lubią poezję "), that "perhaps" two in a thousand people like poetry.

Szymborska received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1996 "for poetry that, with ironic precision, allows the historical and biological context to come to light in fragments of human reality." As a result, she became more well-known internationally. Her work has been translated into numerous European languages, as well as Arabic, Hebrew, Japanese, Persian, and Chinese.

Szymborska died peacefully in her sleep of lung cancer at home in Kraków in 2012, aged 88. She was working on new poetry at the time of her death, but was unable to arrange her final poems for publication in the way she desired. Her final poem was published later that year, and the Wisława Szymborska Award was established in her honor in 2013.