When asked what her response was to being awarded the Nobel Prize in literature in 2020, Louise Glück replied that she was “completely flabbergasted.” She said she had thought it “extremely unlikely that I would ever have this particular event to deal with in my life.”
Glück, who died on Oct. 13, 2023, at the age of 80, may have been taken aback that she was granted this exalted honor, the first American to win since T.S. Eliot in 1948. But her win was far less surprising to those who know and love her work, and who now mourn her loss.
