Poet Tapped for Arts Medal

Known for her literary versatility and her politicized poetry, Maxine W. Kumin ’46 will receive the 11th annual Harvard Arts Medal from the Office of the Arts (OFA) during May’s Arts First festival to honor her distinguished career as a poet, novelist, and essayist.

Every year, OFA honors a Harvard or Radcliffe faculty member or alum “who has achieved excellence in the arts and who has made a special contribution through the arts to education or the public good,” according to an OFA press release.

Kumin’s career spans over 30 years and is marked by honors including the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1973 and the Poets’ Prize in 1992.

OFA Director Jack Megan and member of the selection committee praised Kumin as “somebody who produced extraordinary work over many decades.”

“She felt like the right one to everyone [on the committee] this year,” Megan said.

Boylston Professor of Rhetoric and Oratory Jorie Graham will present the award to Kumin on May 6 in the Barker Center.

Aside from her literary versatility, Graham noted that Kumin is renowned as a strong female voice in the long tradition of male poets to graduate from Harvard.

Graham lauded the “daunting courage it took not only to be a political feminist but to write poetry” during a time when the field was strongly dominated by men.

Graham said she values Kumin as “a woman in a man’s medium—a harsh critic in a ladylike guise.”

Many of the politicized topics that became major themes in Kumin’s poetry gain fresh relevance in light of newly conservative politics, Graham noted, including her harsh attacks on Christian fundamentalism and her strong appreciation of nature.

Kumin’s publisher Carol Smith began working with the poet on her 1992 book Poets’ Prize-winning book “Looking for Luck.” Since then, she has worked with Kumin on five other books, including a memoir.

Smith says she sees the award as “a fine culmination” of an extensive body of work. Smith has witnessed the development of themes such as family, nature, justice, and activism throughout Kumin’s various written works and describes her as “a fierce poet,” admired by many.

The award—which was inaugurated with its presentation to actor Jack Lemmon ’47 in 1995—has previously been awarded to such luminaries as Yo-Yo Ma ’76, John Updike ’54, and Mira Nair ’79.

Ma and Kumin, Megan noted, share more than high stature in their respective fields. He stressed both artists’ versatility within their fields and long careers as merits that struck the selection committee.

In addition to Megan, other selection committee members included New York Times writer John Rockwell, American Repertory Theater Executive Director Robert Orchard, and Hooker Professor of Visual Arts Alfred Guzzetti.