Category: people

“His plays–as turgid, alas, as the Communist bureaucrats they are meant to satirize–will not survive, except as curiosities. But his famous political essay–“The Power of the Powerless”–will live forever. Its appeal is universal.”

“He served 14 years as president, wrote 19 plays, inspired a film and a rap song and remained one of his generation’s most seductively nonconformist writers. All the while, he came to personify the soul of the Czech nation.”

2004 Grammy-winner Evora, who often performed barefoot to remind her audience of the poverty on Cape Verde, “was best known for singing songs of longing, and her style brought comparisons to the American jazz singer Billie Holiday.”

“For the last 40 years, nearly all of Elizabeth Streb’s time and energy has been focused on investigating the complex mechanics of human movement. In fact, as her partner, the journalist Laura Flanders, observed, Ms. Streb has been so intent on challenging the laws of physics that her concern for domestic matters has been roughly equal to the velocity of a sitting dancer: zero.”

“[The] fabled English-language bookstore on the Left Bank in Paris [has been] a magnet for writers, poets and tourists for close to 60 years, … an offbeat mix of open house and literary commune.”

“The world’s most famous Chasidic Jew has shaved his beard.” Matisyahu, né Matthew Paul Miller and an improbable but major pop music star, tweeted to the world yesterday that he is now clean-shaven. He says he remains an observant Jew (though no longer a Chasid), and promises “an amazing year filled with music of rebirth.”

“I think Mahfouz was once described as Egypt’s fourth pyramid. To extend the metaphor, I’m saying someone has smuggled one of Egypt’s pyramids out of the country and is putting it up for sale.”

The Cuban heartthrob of the Royal Ballet, who has already published an autobiography, has written a novel that will be published in 2013. “The story, which is as yet untitled, is set in Cuba and charts the island’s history from the 19th century to the present, including … the revolution of the 1950s.”

The English composer, known for his symphonies and film scores (Bridge on the River Kwai), left much of his estate to his caregiver of 22 years. Arnold’s two children (who abandoned him when he hit an alcoholic bottom) are battling to get that inheritance, and they’ve gone to eyebrow-raising lengths in the process.

The proprietress of the cafe where the late painter had breakfast and lunch for 15 years recalls cooking for him, consulting with him and, ultimately, sitting for him.