MADRE Statements
Adrienne Rich: Presente!
Posted on: Thursday, March 29, 2012
Keywords: Activist
MADRE joins many in mourning the death of Adrienne Rich, a pioneering feminist poet and activist famed for her socially conscious writing. A MADRE supporter and an advocate of women's rights, her poetry explored racism, sexuality, the oppression of women and economic justice.
Widely read and considered one of the most influential writers of the feminist movement, she received several prestigious literary awards and honors, including the MacArthur "genius" fellowship, two Guggenheim Fellowships and the Bollingen Prize, Brandeis Creative Arts Medal, Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize and the Wallace Stevens Award. Throughout her career, she published 30 books and wrote over two dozen volumes of poetry.
In 1997, she declined the National Medal of Arts, the highest award given to artists by United States government. In a letter addressed to then-President Clinton, she wrote: “The radical disparities of wealth and power in America are widening at a devastating rate. A president cannot meaningfully honor certain token artists while the people at large are so dishonored.”
She died on Tuesday, March 27 at age 82 from long-term rheumatoid arthritis. MADRE celebrates the life of Adrienne Rich, a champion of women's rights.
Additional Resources
Adrienne Rich (1929-2012): Alice Walker & Frances Goldin on the Life of Legendary Poet & Activist
A Poet of Unswerving Vision at the Forefront of Feminism
Poet Adrienne Rich, 82, has died
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Kaitlyn Soligan, Media Coordinator
PHONE: +1 212 627 0444
EMAIL: media@madre.org
