Mark Strand: Award-Winning Poet Dies at 80 (TWEETS)

U.S. former poet laureate and Pulitzer Prize-winner Mark Strand died at age 80 from cancer.

The poet's work was translated into over 30 different languages before his liposarcoma spread throughout his body, just weeks after entering hospice care, Jessica Strand, his daughter, told The Associated Press. He died in Jessica's house.

"He was a funny, elegant, generous and brilliant man," she said of her father. "A man who lived to work and to be with his friends and the people he loved."

Strand considered his greatest honors to be winning the Pulitzer in 1999 for "Blizzard of One," a gold medal from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and a National Book Award nomination this fall for "Collected Poems."

He was also appointed poet laureate for 1990-91, but Strand did not consider that a great achievement.

"It's too close to the government. It's too official. I don't believe that poetry should be official," he told AP in 2011. "There are poets who aspire to such positions; I never did."

Strand's work varied from poetry, to prose and even children's books.

Mark Strand is survived by a sister, Jessica, and his son, Thomas.

He was also remembered today by his readers who were greatly influenced by his writing on Twitter:

Tags

Cancer, Writing, Poet