RIP Franz Wright

Yesterday we were saddened by the news of Franz Wright's death at the age of 62. SF Gate reports "His friend Alex Green, owner of Back Pages Books in Waltham, Mass., said that Mr. Wright died Thursday after a long battle with cancer."

Franz Wright was born in Vienna, Austria and grew up in the Northwest, the Midwest, and California. He earned a BA from Oberlin College in 1977. Wright received a Whiting Fellowship, a Gugenheim Fellowship, and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. In 2004 he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his collection Walking to Martha's Vineyard. He translated poetry by Rainer Maria Rilke and Rene Char; in 2008 he and his wife, Elizabeth Oehlkers Wright, co-translated a collection by the Belarusian poet Valzhyna Mort, Factory of Tears. He taught at Emerson College and other universities, worked in mental health clinics, and volunteered at a center for grieving children. His father was the Pulitzer Prize–winning poet James Wright.

Wright was also a frequent contributor to Poetry over the years. Head here to read his work and celebrate his life.