Born in a small town in Ohio, Mary Oliver (1935-2019) published her first book of poetry in 1963 at the age of 28. Over the course of her long and illustrious career, Oliver wrote over thirty volumes she received numerous awards. Her fourth book, American Primitive, won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1984. She also received the Shelley Memorial Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, an American Academy an, Institute of Arts and Letters Achievement Award, and the National Book Award, amongst several others.