Wisława Szymborska (born 1923) - poet and literary critic. Awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1996, following on from earlier Polish award-holders Henryk Sienkiewicz, Władysław Reymont and Czesław Miłosz. In 2001 she became an honorary member of the American Academy of Fine Arts and Literature, the most important American distinction awarded to renowned artists. Her most important collections of poetry are: 'Dlatego żyjemy' (Why we live - 1952), 'Pytania stawiane sobie' (Questions Asked of Oneself - 1954), 'Wołanie do yeti' (Calling to the Yeti - 1957), 'Sto pociech' (A Hundred Joys - 1967), 'Ludzie na moście' (People on the Bridge - 1986), 'Koniec i początek i koniec' (End and Beginning - 1993), 'Lektury nadobowiązkowe' (Optional Readings - 1996), 'Widok z ziarnkiem piasku' (View with a Grain of Sand - 1996), 'Sto wierszy - sto pociech' (A Hundred Poems, a Hundred Joys - 1997), and 'Chwila' (A Moment - 2002).
