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Polish-born American author Isaac Bashevis Singer (1902 - 1991) sorts through the mail on the couch in the living room of his Upper West Side apartment, New York, New York, December 1978. Several days later, he flew to Stockholm, Sweden, where he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. (Photo by Chuck Fishman/Getty Images)

Polish-born American author Isaac Bashevis Singer (1902 - 1991) sorts through the mail on the couch in the living room of his Upper West Side apartment, New York, New York, December 1978. Several days later, he flew to Stockholm, Sweden, where he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. (Photo by Chuck Fishman/Getty Images)