China's Mo Yan wins this year's Nobel Prize for literature
The Swedish Academy—which, since 1901, has been making people feel stupid once a year by lavishing acclaim on international writers they’ve never heard of—has bestowed its 2012 Nobel Prize in literature to Chinese novelist and short story writer Mo Yan. His actual name is Guan Moye; “Mo Yan” is a pseudonym meaning, “Don’t Speak.” Anyone wondering why that’s a good pen name for a Chinese writer should keep in mind that the Chinese government had a hissy fit and disowned the 2000 prize given to Gao Xingjian, the only previous Chinese Nobel laureate in literature, because his work is considered directly critical of the country’s leaders. Mo’s win seems to be going over a bit better in his native land, however, and Peter Englund, the permanent secretary of the academy, has confirmed that the author is expected to attend the awards ceremony on December 10.