Culture

Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2006, becoming the first Turkish writer to receive this award. In addition to being a writer, he is Professor of Literature at Columbia University. He studied architecture at Istanbul Technical University and journalism at Istanbul University, but never pursued either of these professions. He lived in the US between 1985 and 1988, where he attended Columbia University in New York and also the University of Iowa for a short time. He currently lives in Istanbul, where he was born in 1952.

Last updated: January 2024

(1923-2025) Nobel Prize for Literature 2010, he was one of Latin-American literature’s greatest authors, whose works have been translated into over 20 languages. After graduating with a degree in literature and law from the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, in 1959 he left for Spain, where he obtained a PhD in Philosophy and Literature from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. His commitment to literature bore fruit when his first publication, a collection of short stories published under the title «Los jefes» (The Bosses), was awarded the Leopoldo Arias prize.
In 1964, he returned to Peru before travelling to Havana, where he sat on the jury of the Casa de las Américas Awards and on the editorial board of the «Casa de las Américas» magazine. Later, he worked as a translator for UNESCO in Greece with Julio Cortázar and lived in Europe until 1974, mainly in Paris, London and Barcelona. In 1975, he was appointed a member of the Peruvian Academy of Language and in 1976, he was elected President of the International Pen Club. In 1994, he was appointed a member of the Royal Spanish Academy. In 1981, he returned to Peru, where he directed the television programme The Tower of Babel. In 1987, he emerged as the political leader of the Freedom Movement and, three years later, he ran for President of the Republic for the Frente Democrático-FREDEMO party.
He has been a Visiting Professor or Resident Writer at various universities around the world, such as Queen Mary College and King's College at the University of London, the University of Cambridge, the Scottish Arts Council, Washington State University, Columbia University, the Smithsonian's Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Florida International University and Harvard University.

Last updated: april 2025

In 2002, he created the group «The Republic of Ideas», which he chairs. In 1978, he took charge of the Sociology department at the Travail et Societé centre created by Jacques Delors at the University of Paris-Dauphine. Since 1978, he has been Professor at the École des Hautes Etudes en Science Sociales and Director of Studies, a position he still holds. Since the 1990s, he has devoted himself to documenting the intellectual history of democracy in France. In 2001, he was appointed Professor at the Collège de France.

He is a national Poetry Slam champion and a multi-platinum songwriter, writing to entertain, inspire and challenge listeners. Many of his poetry videos have gone viral, with over 50 million total views. His extraordinary performances include: selling out one of the largest poetry shows in Los Angeles history, being the first spoken word artist to perform with Cirque du Soleil and being featured on HBO's Def Poetry Jam by A&E's Look Closer campaign. Organisations such as Google, Facebook, IBM, Nike, Spotify and Shazam have invited him to give motivational workshops on creativity and storytelling.

Born in Massachusetts, he is the son of an Italian mother and a Canadian father. He attended university in Maine and Massachusetts (Amherst), and currently lives between Cape Cod and Hawaii. He has taught in Italy, Malawi, Uganda, Singapore and the UK. He has written dozens of novels, essays and some of the best travel books ever, such as «The Old Patagonian Express», «Ghost Train to the Orient», «Deep South and «The Great Railway Bazaar».

A journalist, he was Director of News at RTP and TVI, simultaneously editing and presenting Telejornal (RTP) and Jornal das 8 (TVI). He began his career in radio and, in 1992, was part of the team that founded the first private television station in Portugal, SIC, where he presented Jornal da Noite. He taught at the Escola Superior de Comunicação Social and co-coordinated the Postgraduate Course in Journalism at ISCTE/Media Capital. At the invitation of the President of the Republic, he inaugurated the programme «Journalists in Belém Palace» in 2018.

Professor of Economics and holder of the Ford Chair at MIT. He is also Co-Director of the NBER Labor Studies Programme, the MIT Task Force on Work of the Future and the experimental JPAL Work of the Future Initiative. His research explores the impacts of the technological revolution and globalisation on the labour market, specifically job polarization, demands and skills, income levels and inequalities, and electoral outcomes. He has received several awards for his academic studies – the National Science Foundation's CAREER Award, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellowship, the Sherwin Rosen Award for Outstanding Contributions to Labor Economics, and the Andrew Carnegie Fellowship in 2019 – and also for his teaching, including the MIT MacVicar Faculty Fellowship. Most recently, Autor received the Heinz 25th Special Recognition Award from the Heinz Family Foundation for his contribution to «transforming our perception of how globalisation and the technological revolution are impacting the jobs and wage prospects of American workers.« In 2017, Bloomberg recognised him as one of the 50 people who have defined the world of business on a global scale. And in 2019, the Economist magazine labelled him «The academic voice of the American worker». Later that year, and with (at least) equal justification, he was dubbed the «Twerpy MIT Economist» by John Oliver of Last Week Tonight, in a segment on automation and employment.

Founder and CEO of the communications company Empower Sports and presenter on the Eleven Sports channel. He began his career at RTP, later working for CNN (in the US and later as a correspondent in London), Sport TV and UEFA. He has also worked with FIFA and the Portuguese Football Federation.

Last updated: January 2022

Radio presenter, comedian and television host. He was a member of the Fictional Productions team and co-wrote «Herman Encyclopaedia», «Paradise Films», «The Maria Show» and «The Contemporaries». He was born in Lisbon in 1971.

Last updated: January 2024

A philosopher and essayist, he first studied mathematics at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon, then moved to France, where he graduated in philosophy at the Sorbonne University. After obtaining a master's degree and a doctorate in the same field, he became Coordinator of the Psychoanalysis and Philosophy department at the University of Paris VIII, while also working as a scientific translator for the OECD.
In 1976, he returned to Portugal to take up the post of assistant to the Secretary of State for Higher Education and Scientific Research. After several years of teaching in secondary schools, he was invited to teach at the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities at Universidade Nova de Lisboa. He left in 2010, remaining at the university as a Lead Researcher.
He directed the publisher Relógio D'Água’s Philosophy Collection and published several articles and scientific essays in national and international magazines and encyclopaedias. His 2004 essay «The Fear of Existing» earned him a position on the French weekly «Le Nouvel Observateur’s» list of the world's 25 great thinkers. He was also awarded the P.E.N. Clube Português Essay Prize (2005) and the Vergílio Ferreira Prize (2012).