The Nobel Prize in Literature will be awarded later today. Here are four leading contenders for the prize, according to El País.

Yesterday (October 8) was Tsvetaeva's birthday. Here is one of her best known poems, set to music with English subtitles:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkTD...

Please make that: 'Hers is the one I knew first . . . '

Is it possible that right here -- in the middle of one of our worst years yet -- we have our own Cole Porter? Singer/songwriter Aron! makes me think it might be so.

A wonderful piece by B.A. Charles, focusing on Charlotte Mandel's new translation of the second volume of 'In Search of Lost Time': 'In the Shadow of Girls in Blossom', which I warmly recommend. I don't think any English translator has brought us closer to Proust's own diction and tone.

An eight-hour celebration of the words and music of Stevie Wonder -- at New York's Symphony Space on November 8.

Here's a musical setting of the Russian poem:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkTD...

Here's is the one I knew first, many years ago, so I have an affection for it. But I wanted English-speakers to be aware of Schmidt's translations of 20th-century Russian poets, too Best of all, of course, is to hear the poem in Tsvetaeva's own language.

You might enjoy this musical setting of Tsvetaeva's poem 'Homesickness' by the group Poetic Oasis. The poet was born on this date in 1892:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkTD...

A lovely musical setting of the poem by the group Poetic Oasis:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkTD...

Here's the link:
favoritepoems.diehoren.com/2015/10/home...

Remembering poet Marina Tsvetaeva (1892-1941) on her birthday. Her work was admired by Pasternak, Akhmatova, Rilke, and Brodsky, and Elaine Feinstein's nimble translations have brought a wide range of her poems to English-speakers. I'll post one of my favorite poems of hers in Comments.

Let the world know what Israel is doing and how the USA made no effort to intervene on behalf of American citizens. Shameful! zeteo.com/p/exclusive-...?

Before the 2024 presidential election, we surveyed 50 members of the Washington legal establishment about their expectations for the rule of law if Trump were re-elected, We recently returned with follow-up interviews about Trump’s impact on the rule of law. Now: almost universal fear and anguish.

There's an answer to this: the price of electricity should depend on the amount someone uses. The more you use, the higher the rate per kilowatt. Sound like a pie-in-the-sky solution? Mexico already does it.

What is the 'little patch of yellow wall' that Proust so admired in this painting by Vermeer? (Proust once called his canvas 'the most beautiful picture in the world.)

Experts disagree, but American painter Jonathan Janson sums up the question nicely:

www.essentialvermeer.com/proust/prous...

A wonderful piece by B.A. Charles, focusing on Charlotte Mandel's new translation of the second volume of 'In Search of Lost Time': 'In the Shadow of Girls in Blossom', which I warmly recommend. I don't think any English translator has brought us closer to Proust's own diction and tone.

A wonderful piece by B.A. Charles. I'll post it on Reddit, which, as you probably know, has a page devoted to Proust.

Such a pleasure talking to Charlotte Mandell @avecsesdoigts.bsky.social for this piece! I had just read her IN THE SHADOW OF GIRLS IN BLOSSOM, a book I absolutely cherish, and was frankly in awe. #proust #proustsky

Here's the link:
www.audible.com/pd/Within-a-...

Greta Thunberg speaks to the press after being released from illegal detainment in Israel: "I could talk for a very, very long time about our mistreatment and abuses in our imprisonment. Trust me, but that is not the story.”

Sweden Says Alleged Mistreatment of Greta Thunberg by Israeli Forces 'Very Serious' en.tempo.co/read/2054726...

States have substantial power and authority in the current crisis. Here are some ways they might use them.

Gabriela Mistral was a Chilean poet and activist whose work explored love in all its forms.

She was the first Latine poet to win a Nobel Prize for literature, and she tirelessly advocated for human rights and democracy.