In 1938, the Swedish Academy shocked the American literary establishment by awarding the Nobel Prize for Literature to Pearl S. […]
About: Thom Nickels
Where formalwear meets flip-flops
Philadelphia is basically a “dress down” kind of town, where it’s not unusual to see theater and concert-going patrons in […]
Grace Kelly and the Irish connection
Several years ago I attended a Villanova University Irish Studies celebration at the Kelly House in East Falls. It was […]
Thom Nickels: Two Philadelphia mansions
Recently I received an invitation to give a lecture in November 2025 at Dunwoody Village in Newtown Square on my […]
Thom Nickels: Don’t ban books — or flags
As a kid I was a Civil War buff and loved visiting an old burned out Civil War era chapel […]
Thom Nickels: Travels in the Steel City
What about Pennsylvania’s other great city, the city of Pittsburgh? Is life in Pittsburgh better than life in Philadelphia? Is […]
Thom Nickels: The trash police
The current sanitation strike in the city got me thinking about the trash police that used to patrol the streets. […]
Thom Nickels: My lunch with a Habsburg
I’m journeying to the suburbs of New York to meet a real prince, Dominic von Habsburg, member of the Grand […]
Thom Nickels: Truth at all costs — Oriana Fallaci’s final war
Oriana Fallaci, Italian journalist and author, died in 2006, shortly after she was indicted by a judge in her native […]
Thom Nickels: Three writers, three obituaries
Three noteworthy LGBT authors died within three months of one another in 2025. I knew two of them; the more […]
