Linda Pastan

Her final collection of poetry was Almost an Elegy, published in 2022.

• Name — Linda Pastan • Birth Name — Linda B Olenik • Born — 27 May 1932 • Birthplace — The Bronx, New York, U.S. • Died — 30 January 2023 • Place of death — Chevy Chase, Maryland, U.S. • Education — * Radcliffe College (bachelor's 1954) • Simmons University (master's in library science, 1955) • Brandeis University (master's in literature, 1958) • Genre — Poetry • Spouse — Ira Pastan • Children — 3

Linda B Olenik was born in the Bronx, New York, on May 27, 1932. Her father was a Jewish immigrant from Eastern Europe who became a surgeon. Her mother was a homemaker. An only child, she was raised in Armonk, New York. At age 12, she submitted her first poems to The New Yorker. She received a bachelor's degree from Radcliffe College in 1954, where she received the Mademoiselle poetry prize. She received a Master of Library and Information Science from Simmons University in 1955, and a master's degree in English and American literature from Brandeis University in 1958.

Pastan published 15 books of poetry and a number of essays. From 1991 to 1995 she was Poet Laureate of Maryland. She was on the staff of the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference for 20 years. Her awards include the Dylan Thomas Prize, a Pushcart Prize, the Alice Fay di Castagnola Award from the Poetry Society of America, the Bess Hokin Prize from Poetry magazine, the 1986 Maurice English Poetry Award for A Fraction of Darkness, the Charity Randall Citation from the International Poetry Forum, the 2003 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, the Radcliffe College Distinguished Alumnae Award, and the Virginia Faulkner Award from Prairie Schooner. Two of her poetry collections were nominated for the National Book Award and one for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. She received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Maryland Arts Council.

She married scientist Ira Pastan in 1953. The couple had three children. They lived in Potomac, Maryland, for several years. As of 2018, the Pastans lived in Chevy Chase, Maryland. Pastan died at her home in Chevy Chase on January 30, 2023, at the age of 90, from complications following cancer surgery.