21st Century Lit
With a name that's a synonym for forgiveness, this Ian McEwan novel was later made into a Keira Knightley film
What is Atonement?
Scientists observed light from behind a black hole this past July, confirming this man's theory of general relativity
Who is Einstein?
After this pop star's 1992 state-sponsored visit to Gabon, opposition party newspapers asked: "Who is this guy? We thought he was a black American, but he doesn’t look like one.”
Who is Michael Jackson?
Both of the first two British monarchs - "the conqueror" and "the red" - had this first name
What is William?
Nowadays we might compare just about anything unpleasant to this brutal labor camp - Cleveland ain't that bad!
What is the gulag?
A 2009 Time magazine cover proclaimed this The Corrections and Freedom author "The Great American Novelist"
Who is Jonathan Franzen?
On September 7th, El Salvador became the first nation to officially declare this cryptocurrency to be legal tender
What is Bitcoin?
The capital of Gabon is Libreville; translating that name to English gets you this other national capital of Sierra Leone
What is Freetown?
This king's son was stationed in New York at the time of the American Revolution, so George Washington endorsed kidnapping him
Who is George III?
Get ready for winter, or to rob a bank, or to rob a bank in winter with this full-face mask named for a town in Crimea
What is a balaclava?
Gary Shteyngart's 2010 novel was this kind of Love Story
What is "super sad true"?
April 11: Hideki Matsuyama becomes the first Japanese man to win this sporting event held annually in Augusta, Georgia
What are the Masters?
During their breeding season, nearly 30,000 of this largest species of turtle visit Mayumba National Park to nest
What are leatherbacks?
Soon after taking the throne, she took the Catholic Duke of Norfolk out of the Tower of London and threw Lady Jane Grey into it
Who is Mary I?
Visit any tea room in Russia to spot one of these "self-boiling" tall urns
What is a samovar?
She gives herself a brief cameo in her 2005 novel On Beauty as a "feckless novelist" who quickly leaves a meeting
Who is Zadie Smith?
June 7: The Juno spacecraft passes this largest moon of Jupiter, the first transit past this body in twenty years
What is Ganymede?
Nearly all of the Gabonese population are of this ethnic origin, also the name of the region's primary language group
What is Bantu?
The most British thing possible happened in 1926, when this future king and father of Elizabeth II competed at Wimbledon
Who is George VI?
Between the tundra (another Russian loanword) and the steppes, you may find this: a swampy, coniferous biome also called a boreal forest
What's the taiga?
In a 2011 Aimee Bender novel, nine-year-old Rose Edelstein discovers the "particular sadness" of this dessert
What is lemon cake?
May 23: Eric Carle, best known as the author of this popular children's book about an insect, passes away
What is The Very Hungry Caterpillar?
Prior to independence in 1960, Gabon was one of four countries in the colonial federation known as AEF, aka French "this" Africa
What is Equatorial?
This man was probably not known as "The Hammer of the Scots" in his day, although his actions during the First Scottish War of Independence justified it
Who is Edward I?
Both a type of sturgeon and a type of whale have this name, derived from the Russian word for "white"
What is beluga?