Public Figures & Cultural Luminaries

Literature & Poetry

10

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Jorge Semprún

Jorge Semprún Maura

Spain

1923 – 2011 (87 years old)

Spanish novelist, French Resistance fighter, and Buchenwald concentration camp survivor who wrote screenplays for Costa-Gavras (Z) and served as Spain's Minister of Culture.

Garentreville, France

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Literature & Poetry

10

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Ernesto Sabato

Ernesto Sabato

Argentina

1911 – 2011 (99 years old)

Towering Argentine novelist and moral authority who wrote The Tunnel and On Heroes and Tombs, and led the landmark CONADEP investigation Nunca Más into military junta disappearances.

Pilar, Argentina

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Literature & Poetry

8

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Gonzalo Rojas

Gonzalo Rojas Pizarro

Chile

1916 – 2011 (94 years old)

One of Chile's greatest 20th-century poets, Cervantes Prize laureate, whose intense, rhythmic, and erotic verse explored mortality, love, and political exile.

Chillán, Chile

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Literature & Poetry

10

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Arnošt Lustig

Arnošt Lustig

Czech Republic

1926 – 2011 (84 years old)

Acclaimed Czech-Jewish author and Holocaust survivor who survived Theresienstadt, Auschwitz, and Buchenwald, dedicating his literary life to chronicling the human spirit under extreme Nazi brutality.

Prague, Czech Republic

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Literature & Poetry

0

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Bo Carpelan

Bo Gustaf Bertelsson Carpelan

Finland

1926-10-25 – 2011-02-11 (84 years old)

Eminent Finland-Swedish poet and novelist who became the only author to win the prestigious Finlandia Prize twice, celebrated for luminous, meditative works like Urwind and Berg.

Helsinki, Finland

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Literature & Poetry

11

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Édouard Glissant

Édouard Glissant

France

1928 – 2011 (82 years old)

Influential Martinican poet, novelist, and philosopher whose concepts of 'Antillanité', Creolization, and the 'Poetics of Relation' profoundly transformed postcolonial literary theory.

Le Diamant, France

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Literature & Poetry

9

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Bella Akhmadulina

Изабелла Ахатовна Ахмадулина

Russia

1937 – 2010 (73 years old)

Prominent Soviet and Russian poet acclaimed as one of the leading literary voices of the post-Stalin Thaw, celebrated for her melodic verse and moral courage.

Moscow, Russia

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Literature & Poetry

29

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Edmond Amran El Maleh

إدمون عمران المالح

Morocco

1917 – 2010 (93 years old)

Moroccan-Jewish writer, philosopher, and Communist activist who fiercely defended Palestinian rights, celebrated Judeo-Arabic-Berber symbiotic identity, and authored 'Aïlen ou la nuit du récit'.

Essaouira, Morocco

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Literature & Poetry

0

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Ghazi Al-Gosaibi

غازي القصيبي

Saudi Arabia

3 March 1940 – 15 August 2010 (70 years old)

Celebrated Saudi cabinet minister, ambassador to London, and bestselling novelist whose satirical novel 'An Apartment Called Freedom' challenged taboos.

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

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Literature & Poetry

14

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Tahar Ouettar

الطاهر وطار

Algeria

1936 – 2010 (73 years old)

Eminent Algerian Arabic novelist and intellectual whose iconic works 'The Earthquake' and 'The Fisherman and the Palace' dissected social transformations, while his cultural association Al-Jahidhiya nurtured writers.

Algiers, Algeria

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Literature & Poetry

11

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Tony Judt

Tony Robert Judt

Great Britain

1948 – 2010 (62 years old)

British historian and essayist renowned for his magisterial history of post-1945 Europe, Postwar, and his spirited defense of social democracy.

London, United Kingdom

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Literature & Poetry

10

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Beryl Bainbridge

Dame Beryl Margaret Bainbridge

Great Britain

1932 – 2010 (77 years old)

Acclaimed English novelist nominated five times for the Booker Prize, celebrated for her razor-sharp dark humor, macabre plots, and vivid historical novels.

London, United Kingdom

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Literature & Poetry

12

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Carlos Monsiváis

Carlos Monsiváis Aceves

Mexico

1938 – 2010 (72 years old)

Celebrated Mexican chronicler, essayist, and public intellectual whose sharp wit documented popular culture, urban social movements, and human rights in modern Mexico.

Mexico City, Mexico

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Literature & Poetry

10

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José Saramago

José de Sousa Saramago

Portugal

1922 – 2010 (87 years old)

Portuguese author awarded the 1998 Nobel Prize in Literature, acclaimed for subversive allegories, luminous prose, and masterworks such as Blindness and Baltasar and Blimunda.

Lisbon, Portugal

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Literature & Poetry

0

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Ferdinand Oyono

Ferdinand Leopold Oyono

Cameroon

1929-09-14 – 2010-06-10 (80 years old)

Brilliant satirical novelist whose anti-colonial masterworks 'Houseboy' and 'The Old Man and the Medal' exposed the hypocrisy of colonial rule, later serving as Cameroon's Foreign Minister.

Ngoulemakong, Cameroon

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Literature & Poetry

10

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Andrey Voznesensky

Андрей Андреевич Вознесенский

Russia

1933 – 2010 (77 years old)

Major Soviet and Russian poet and one of the quintessential 'children of the 60s' (shestidesyatniki), renowned for bold metaphors, experimental meter, and daring performances.

Moscow, Russia

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Literature & Poetry

11

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Miguel Delibes

Miguel Delibes Setién

Spain

1920 – 2010 (89 years old)

One of the greatest figures of post-Civil War Spanish literature, renowned for Five Hours with Mario, The Holy Innocents, and his evocative depictions of Castilian landscapes.

Valladolid, Spain

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Literature & Poetry

9

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J. D. Salinger

Jerome David Salinger

United States

1919 – 2010 (91 years old)

Legendary American author whose 1951 novel The Catcher in the Rye became an enduring touchstone of youth alienation, adolescent angst, and literary brilliance.

Cornish, United States

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