Nonrequired Reading: Prose Pieces

Wislawa Szymborska's poems are admired around the world, and her unsparing vision, tireless wit, and deep sense of humanity are cherished by countless readers. Unknown to most of them, however, Szymborska, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, also worked for several decades as a columnist, reviewing a wide variety of books under the unassuming title "Nonrequired Reading."

As readers of her poems would expect, the short prose pieces collected here are anything but ordinary. Reflecting the author's own eclectic tastes and interests, the pretexts for these ruminations range from books on wallpapering, cooking, gardening, and yoga, to more lofty volumes on opera and world literature. Unpretentious yet incisive, these charming pieces are on a par with Szymborska's finest lyrics, tackling the same large and small questions with a wonderful curiosity.

What happens when a Nobel Prize-winning poet turns her famously sharp eye to the humble, the overlooked, and the everyday?

• Prose by a Poet: Discover the same unsparing vision, tireless wit, and deep humanity that won Wislawa Szymborska the Nobel Prize, now in short, sparkling essays.
• A Different Kind of Book Review: Each piece begins with a book—on topics from cooking to opera—but quickly becomes a pretext for Szymborska’s own brilliant, freewheeling reflections.
• Witty Observations: Unpretentious yet incisive, these charming columns tackle life’s largest questions and smallest curiosities with equal parts curiosity and charm.
• Cultural Commentary: Explore a vast range of subjects through a poet’s unique lens, from the history of fashion and the psychic life of pets to the lives of gladiators and the art of wallpapering.