US poet Oliver dies, aged 83

Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winner Mary Oliver has died, aged 83, her literary executor has confirmed.

Bill Reichblum said Oliver died from lymphoma cancer at her Hobe Sound home in Florida on Thursday, reports the BBC. 

Oliver, famous for her poems on nature and animals, published her first book of poetry in 1963 and received numerous accolades, including the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, the Lannan Literary Award, and Honorary Doctorates from The Art Institute of Boston, Dartmouth College and Tufts University.

She wrote more than 15 collections of poetry and essays, including the 2017 anthology Devotions (Penguin). 

Hillary Clinton paid tribute on

, quoting the final couplet of Oliver’s poem “The Summer Day”. Clinton said: “Thank you, Mary Oliver, for giving so many of us words to live by. ‘Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?’”