South African JM Coetzee was born in February 1940 and works as Professor of General Literature at the University of Cape Town.

BBC: Oxford honours arts figures

One of them, Aisasa Lahlilah, a professor of religious literature at the Islamic University of Constantine, fled to the mountains in 1992.

ECONOMIST: Algeria

"The adrenaline became very high and people began hitting the ball very, very hard, " says Gideon Nevo, a professor of Hebrew Literature at Ben Gurion University, who gave up squash for matkot.

WSJ: In Israel, Sounds of Spring Include Thwack of Paddleballs

Professor Nigel Leask, regius professor of English Language and Literature at the University of Glasgow, said Burns read widely in the contemporary literature on the subject while he was being trained.

BBC: Robert Burns honoured for work as land surveyor

David Rudd, professor of children's literature at the University of Bolton and an expert on the author, said Enid Blyton's stories had been seen as racist since the late 1960s, with the idea gathering momentum in the 1970s and 80s.

BBC: Enid Blyton

For in addition to his higher-profile roles as a professor of English and comparative literature at Columbia University and as a controversial commentator on Middle Eastern and international politics, Said was music critic at America's foremost left-leaning political weekly, the Nation, from 1986 until his death in 2003.

ECONOMIST: The power of music: Friends across the divide | The

Mr Collini, professor of English literature and intellectual history at the University of Cambridge, is eager to rebuild their confidence.

ECONOMIST: The tensions of modern education

Zipes, a professor emeritus of German and comparative literature at the University of Minnesota, has written sixty books on or of folk tales: critical studies, collections, translations.

NEWYORKER: Once Upon a Time

Miriam Udel-Lambert, a professor of Yiddish language, literature and culture at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, says she had an active spiritual life before she got married and had two sons.

CNN: Busy moms learn how to balance family and faith

Wanna, a professor of English literature and Thai studies at Bangkok's Kasetsart University.

WSJ: A Newer Nostalgia

That possibility inspired Ms. Dai, the translator, an associate professor and vice dean of the department of Chinese language and literature at Fudan University in Shanghai.

WSJ: 'Finnegans Wake' Is Greek to Many; Now Imagine It in Chinese

Pericles Lewis, a professor of English and comparative literature at Yale, was tapped Wednesday to head Yale-NUS as president, while a professor from the National University of Singapore, Lai Choy Heng, was named vice president.

WSJ: Yale's Singapore Joint Venture Taps a President