Adrienne Rich


Also Listed In: Poets
Also Known As: Adrienne Cecile Rich
Nationality: American
Born On: 16 May 1929 AD    Famous 16th May Birthdays
Zodiac Sign: Taurus    Famous Taureans
Born In: Baltimore, Maryland, United States
Died On: 27 March 2012 AD
Place Of Death: Santa Cruz, California
Father: Arnold Rice Rich
Mother: Helen Elizabeth Jones Rich
Spouse: Alfred Haskell Conrad (m.1953-1970)
Children: David, Paul, Jacob

Education: Harvard University, Radcliffe College


Adrienne Rich was an American poet, essayist and feminist. She was born to Jewish-Protestant parents. Her father encouraged her to read and write from a very young age and home tutored her. She spent a great deal of her time in her father's library which was stocked with works of great writers. She worked hard to fulfil her father's wishes, and by the time she was twenty-two, she come out with her first collection of poems, 'A Change of World'. She married Alfred Conrad, an Economics Professor and had three sons. Their marriage became severely strained because of her being a lesbian. They separated and Conrad committed suicide. A large portion of her work portrayed her thoughts about lesbianism and feminist activism. Her poems and essays were well received, and she won a series of awards and recognitions from various quarters. Her collections of poems include 'The Diamond Cutters', 'Snapshots of a Daughter-in-Law', 'Twenty-One Love Poems', 'A Wild Patience Has Taken Me This Far', and 'The Fact of a Doorframe'. Her critically acclaimed essays include: 'The Art of the Possible: Essays and Conversations' and 'Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence'.

 
Awards and Achievements


During her legendary career, Rich won many awards, including a fellowship from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation in 1994. She did turn down one prestigious honor in 1997, refusing to accept a National Medal of Arts from President Bill Clinton for political reasons. More recently, Rich picked up the National Book Critics Circle Award in 2005 for School Among the Ruins, Poems 2000-2004