Winding Up the Week #474

An end of week recap “The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater.” – J.R.R. Tolkien Helen Keller Day (today) honours the woman who transformed isolation into insight and became a lifelong champion of human dignity. Additionally, it is Global Smurf Day – a cheerful splash of blue amidst some of the more solemn commemorations. Among the literary luminaries born on this day are Bulgarian poet, novelist and playwright Ivan Vazov (1850), American author, disability rights advocate, political activist and lecturer Helen Keller (1880), Guyanese-born British-American novelist, writer and teacher E. R. Braithwaite (1912), American writer and university professor Alice McDermott (1953), British author, historian and TV presenter Simon Sebag Montefiore (1965) and Nigerian-American writer, photographer and art historian Teju Cole (1975). Sunday’s…