FROM: My favorite writers

Robert Penn Warren (1905–1989) was an American novelist, poet, and critic born in Guthrie, Kentucky. His best-known novel, All the King’s Men, appeared in 1946 and won the Pulitzer Prize the following year. He also won two Pulitzers for poetry, becoming the only writer to receive the prize in both fiction and poetry. In 1986, he became the United States’ first official poet laureate, crowning a career that ranged across fiction, verse, criticism, and teaching.

Three of his most important works are:

• All the King’s Men (1946): His defining novel about political ambition, corruption, and moral responsibility, centered on the rise and fall of Southern politician Willie Stark.
• Promises: Poems, 1954–1956 (1957): A major poetry collection that marked a turn toward a more personal, expansive voice and won the 1958 Pulitzer Prize.
• Now and Then: Poems, 1976–1978 (1978): A celebrated collection from his later career that earned him his second Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1979.