When I pronounce the word Future, the first syllable already belongs to the past. When I pronounce the word Silence, I destroy it. Wisława Szymborska

Wisława Szymborska-Włodek [viˈswava ʂɨmˈbɔrska] (2 July 1923 – 1 February 2012) was a Polish poet, essayist,translator and recipient of the 1996 Nobel Prize in Literature. Born in Prowent, which has since become part ofKórnik, she later resided in Kraków until the end of her life. She was described as a "Mozart of Poetry". In Poland, Szymborska's books have reached sales rivaling prominent prose authors: although she once remarked in a poem, "Some Like Poetry" ("Niektórzy lubią poezję"), that no more than two out of a thousand people care for the art.

Szymborska was awarded the 1996 Nobel Prize in Literature "for poetry that with ironic precision allows the historical and biological context to come to light in fragments of human reality". She became better known internationally as a result of this. Her work has been translated into English and many European languages, as well as into Arabic,Hebrew, Japanese and Chinese.