When Szymborska was informed on October 3, 1996, that she had won the Nobel Prize for literature, she said that the world "came crashing down on me." Until then, the shy and retiring Szymborska was a well regarded poet who had a loyal following in Poland but who was virtually unknown outside her own country. Almost everyone—in Poland and abroad—was surprised that one of the world's highest literary honors was going to a woman whose poetic output was so small (she had published only around two hundred poems over her career) and who did not have an impressive international reputation. Those who knew her work, however, recognized that Szymborska was worthy of the award. Although she is not a prolific writer, she has been regarded since the late 1970s as a leading voice in contemporary Polish poetry. Beginning with her third collection, Wolaanie do Yeti (Calling...