Linda Pastan
American writer
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The basics
Quick Facts
| Intro | American writer | ||||||
| Places | United States of America | ||||||
| is | Poet Writer | ||||||
| Work field | Literature | ||||||
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| Birth | 27 May 1932, The Bronx, USA | ||||||
| Age | 92 years | ||||||
| Star sign | Gemini | ||||||
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| Education |
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The details
Biography
Linda Pastan (born May 27, 1932 in New York) is an American poet of Jewish background. From 1991–1995 she was Poet Laureate of Maryland. She is known for writing short poems that address topics like family life, domesticity, motherhood, the female experience, aging, death, loss and the fear of loss, as well as the fragility of life and relationships. Her most recent collections of poetry include Insomnia, Traveling Light, and A Dog Runs Through It.
Life
Pastan has published 15 books of poetry and a number of essays. Her awards include the Dylan Thomas Award, a Pushcart Prize, the Alice Fay di Castagnola Award (Poetry Society of America), the Bess Hokin Prize (Poetry Magazine), the 1986 Maurice English Poetry Award (for A Fraction of Darkness), the Charity Randall Citation of the International Poetry Forum, and the 2003 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize. She also received the Radcliffe College Distinguished Alumnae Award.
Two of her collections of poems were nominated for the National Book Award and one for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize.
Family
As of 2018, she lives in Chevy Chase, Maryland with her husband Ira Pastan, an accomplished physician and researcher.
She is the mother of novelist Rachel Pastan; Washington, D.C. chef and restaurateur Peter Pastan; and Atlanta nephrologist Stephen Pastan.