Official U.N. logo for the 2011 International Year for People of African Descent . With revolutions in the Middle East and the United States’ current Occupy Wall Street movement dominating media reports throughout 2011, the International Year for People of African Descent as declared by the United Nations has received little attention but that didn’t stop the traveling photo exhibition “WoMen in Africa - No Color One Color," from launching November 2 at the Italian Institute of Culture in Nairobi, Kenya. The show marked the second major exhibition within two weeks to launch in honor of the International Year for People of African Descent . A multimedia display of works by different artists and photographers, “The African Continuum: Celebrating Diversity, Recognizing Contributions of People of African Descent”, opened at the U.N. Headquarters in New York City on October 19. For that occasion, Time Magazine photographer Chester Higgins Jr. addressed attendees on behalf ...

A poet named Adonis. ( photo courtesy of Mideast Post ) Considering that Sweden has hosted the Nobel Prize Awards for more than a century and until Thursday had not presented one of its own authors with the Nobel Prize in Literature since 1974 (to Eyvind Johnson), the world can hardly blame the awards committee for presenting this year’s prize to poet Tomas Transtromer. Along with the Syrian poet Adonis, Transtromer was among the top ten authors favored by Britain’s Ladbrokes betting agency as a likely win. Transtromer, according to the agency, was an 8-1 favorite while Adonis was favored 4-1. The poets are also close in age, with the Swede born 1931 and the Syrian in 1930. However, Transtromer became the 104th recipient of the award by virtue of what the prize committee recognized as the following: “ through his condensed, translucent images, he gives us fresh access to reality." Transtromer has published volumes of acclaimed works in both his native tongue and in translat...