Maxine Kumin

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Maxine Kumin (1974)

Maxine Kumin (* as Maxine Winokur, June 6, 1925 in Germantown (Philadelphia) ; † February 6, 2014 in Warner (New Hampshire) ) was an American poet who was close to the Confessional Poets and received the Pulitzer Prize .

Kumin studied at Radcliffe College from 1942 to 1946 (bachelor's degree). Instead of going to Grenoble on a scholarship, she married Victor Kumin in 1946, with whom she had three children. In 1948 she received her Masters Degree in Comparative Literature from Radcliffe College. She worked as a freelance medical journalist and also published poetry. A breakthrough was the publication of a poem in 1953 in the Christian Science Monitor. In 1957 she took part in a poetry workshop led by John Holmes at the Boston Center for Adult Education. There she met Anne Sexton , with whom she had a lifelong friendship (they met on the day of her suicide in 1974). From 1958 to 1968 she taught English at Tufts University . She later also taught poetry at colleges in New England.

In 1963 she and her husband bought a farm in New Hampshire , where they permanently moved and bred horses in 1976. Many of her poems are inspired by rural New Hampshire life.

She wrote 18 volumes of poetry, first in 1961 Halfway and most recently in 2014 And short the season . In addition to poetry, she has published novels, stories, essays, and children's books (some with Anne Sexton).

In 2015 her memoirs The Pawnbroker's Daughter appeared .

Honors

  • Eunice Tietjens Memorial Prize for Poetry (1972)
  • 1973 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for Up Country. Poems from New England (Harper and Row 1972)
  • Aiken Taylor Award for Modern American Poetry (1995)
  • Poets' Prize 1994 (for Looking for Luck )
  • American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters Award for excellence in literature (1980)
  • Academy of American Poets fellowship (1986)
  • Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize (1999)
  • 1981/82 Poetry Consultant to the Library of Congress (now called US Poet Laureate ).

She has also received multiple honorary doctorates.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Kumin, Maxine
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Winokur, Maxine
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American poet and writer
DATE OF BIRTH June 6, 1925
PLACE OF BIRTH Germantown (Philadelphia)
DATE OF DEATH February 6, 2014
Place of death Warner (New Hampshire)