Francina "Fanny" Elsje Blankers-Koen was a Dutch track and field athlete, best known for winning four gold medals at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London. She competed there as a 30-year-old mother of two, earning her the nickname "the flying housewife", and was the most successful athlete at the event.
Leiden University is a public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. Founded in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange as a reward to the town of Leiden for its defense against Spanish attacks during the Eighty Years' War, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the Netherlands.
Kochira Katsushika-ku Kameari Kōen Mae Hashutsujo, often shortened to KochiKame (こち亀), is a Japanese comedy manga series written and illustrated by Osamu Akimoto. It takes place in the present day, in and around a neighborhood police station (kōban) in the downtown part of Tokyo, and revolves around the misadventures of middle-aged cop Kankichi Ryotsu. The official English title is KochiKame: Tokyo Beat Cops.
Reporters Without Borders, also known as Reporters sans frontières (RSF), is a leading international non-profit and non-governmental organization that safeguards the right to freedom of information. Its mandate is to promote free, independent and pluralistic journalism and to defend media workers. Its advocacy is founded on the belief that everyone requires access to the news and information, inspired by Article 19 of the UN Declaration of Human Rightsthat recognises the right to receive and share information regardless of frontiers, along with other international rights charters. RSF has consultative status at the United Nations, UNESCO, the Council of Europe, and the International Organisation of the Francophonie.
Marilynne Summers Robinson is an American novelist and essayist. Across her writing career, Robinson has received numerous awards, including the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2005, National Humanities Medal in 2012, and the 2016 Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction. In 2016, Robinson was named in Time magazine's list of 100 most influential people. Robinson began teaching at the Iowa Writers' Workshop in 1991 and retired in the spring of 2016.
Thomas Anthony "Tomie" dePaola was an American writer and illustrator who created more than 260 children's books such as Strega Nona. He received the Children's Literature Legacy Award for his lifetime contribution to American children's literature in 2011.
Wang Anyi is a Chinese writer. The daughter of renowned writer Ru Zhijuan, Wang is considered a leading figure in contemporary Chinese literature. She has been vice-chair of China Writers Association since 2006, and professor in Chinese Literature at Fudan University since 2004.
Ahmed Reda Benchemsi is a Moroccan journalist. He is the founder and was the publisher and editor of Tel Quel and Nichane magazines.
Sebastian Paul Brock, FBA is generally acknowledged as the foremost academic in the field of Syriac language today. He is a former Reader in Syriac Studies at the University of Oxford's Oriental Institute and currently a professorial fellow at Wolfson College.
Osamu Akimoto is a Japanese manga artist from Katsushika, Tokyo. He is best known for his long-running comedy series Kochira Katsushika-ku Kameari Kōen-mae Hashutsujo, which was continuously published in Weekly Shōnen Jump for 40 years from 1976 to 2016. With 1,960 chapters collected into 200 tankōbon volumes, it was awarded a Guinness World Record for "Most volumes published for a single manga series" in 2016. By February 2012, the series had sold over 155 million copies, making it one of the best-selling manga series in history.
Frédérik Peeters is a contemporary Swiss graphic novelist.
Alain Mabanckou is a novelist, journalist, poet, and academic, a French citizen born in the Republic of the Congo, he is currently a Professor of Literature at UCLA. He is best known for his novels and non-fiction writing depicting the experience of contemporary Africa and the African diaspora in France. He is among the best known and most successful writers in the French language and one of the best known African writers in France. In some circles in Paris he is known as the Samuel Beckett of Africa. He is also controversial, and criticized by some African and diaspora writers for stating Africans bear responsibility for their own misfortune.
The Bookspot Literatuurprijs is a prize for literature in the Netherlands and Belgium. It is awarded to authors writing in Dutch and amounts to €50,000. The ceremony is televised live each year. The prize was conceived in 1986 and inaugurated the following year with the aim to promote literature and increase the public's interest in books.
Peeter Mudist was an Estonian painter, sculptor, and print-maker whose works have received multiple awards. He was also a member of the Estonian Artists' Union.
Rudi Tas[ˈrydi ˈtɑs] is a Flemish composer of choral music, a conductor and an organist.
Sarah Bakewell is a British author and professor. She currently lives in London. She received the Windham–Campbell Literature Prize in Non-Fiction.
Koen Geens is a Belgian Flemish politician and member of Christian Democratic and Flemish (CD&V). He is the current Minister of Justice in the Belgian federal cabinet. Since July 2019 he also serves as Deputy Prime Minister.
Michael Nip Hall is an American and Swiss molecular biologist and Professor at the Biozentrum University of Basel, Switzerland.
Vishnu Khare was an Indian Hindi poet, translator, literary and film critic, journalist and scriptwriter. He wrote both in Hindi and English. He taught English literature at university level, served as the Programme Secretary of Sahitya Akademi, the National Academy of Letters in India and was editor of the Hindi daily Navbharat Times" in Lucknow, Jaipur and New Delhi.
