Maxine Kumin, former U.S. poet laureate, dies at 88

Maxine Kumin, who was both a Pulitzer Prize winner and former U.S. poet laureate, has passed away at the age of 88 while at her Warner, N.H. home.

Kumin's passing was announced by her daughter, Judith, reports The New York Times. Judith noted that Kumin had been in ill health for a while.

She had a long career in poetry and wrote many essays, novels and even children's books during her lifetime. While she was a U.S. poet laureate, she worked alongside the Library of Congress for two years and then spent five years in a similar capacity with New Hampshire.

Kumin was a lover of nature and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1973 for her poetry collection Up Country. She focused her poetry around the New Hampshire farm, she and her husband had bought a decade ago at the time.

According to The Associated Press, Kumin worked to increase awareness on the subjects of justice, women writers and animal rights.

She has two final books set to be released in 2014, one called And Short the Season and the other Lizzie!.

image: Wikimedia Commons

WordPress › Error