Sharon Olds

Date of Birth: November 19, 1942

Zodiac Sign: Scorpio

Biography

Sharon Olds is an acclaimed American poet renowned for her candid and often provocative exploration of personal and familial themes. Born in San Francisco, Olds has built a distinguished career as a writer and educator. She obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree from Stanford University and later earned her Ph.D. in English from Columbia University. Olds’ poetry is celebrated for its powerful emotional resonance, its raw honesty, and its fearless examination of subjects such as sex, love, motherhood, and domestic life. Her first collection, *Satan Says* (1980), was a critical success and won the inaugural San Francisco Poetry Center Award. Over the years, Olds has published numerous collections, including *The Dead and the Living* (1984), which received the National Book Critics Circle Award. Her collection *Stag’s Leap* (2012), which delves into the dissolution of her marriage, won both the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry and the T.S. Eliot Prize. Olds’ work has been featured in a variety of esteemed literary journals and she has been the recipient of numerous accolades, including the Academy of American Poets Fellowship. Her contributions to contemporary poetry are widely acknowledged for their emotional depth and technical prowess. Olds currently resides in New York City and continues to write and teach.

5 Interesting Facts about Sharon Olds

1. Sharon Olds won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 2013 for her collection *Stag’s Leap*.

2. She was once described by Michael Ondaatje as “one of the finest American poets.”

3. Olds has taught creative writing at New York University for many years.

4. She refused to attend a White House dinner hosted by Laura Bush in protest of the Iraq War.

5. Olds’ poetry often addresses deeply personal experiences, making her work both relatable and emotionally impactful.

5 Most Interesting Quotes from Sharon Olds

1. “Poetry is a life-cherishing force. And it requires a vision—a faith, to use an old-fashioned term.”

2. “Writing or making anything—a poem, a bird feeder, a chocolate cake—has self-respect in it.”

3. “I have always been interested in the voice of the poem. I have always wanted to write a poem which is a cry.”

4. “I have tried to learn the earth by heart.”

5. “I think that the job of poetry, its political job, is to refresh the idea of justice, which is going dead in us all the time.”

Highest Net Worth Achieved

Sharon Olds’ highest net worth is estimated to be around $1 million.

Children

Sharon Olds has two children from her marriage to David Douglas Olds. Their names and further details are generally kept private in respect of their privacy.