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Gerald Stern speaks to the audience during the National Book Awards in New York Wednesday, Nov. 18, 1998. Stern, one of the country's most loved and respected poets who wrote with spirited melancholy and earthly humor about his childhood, Judaism, mortality and the wonders of the contemplative life, has died. OSAMU HONDA/AP hide caption

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OSAMU HONDA/AP

Thursday

The Rio Grande is seen from the International Bridge near a section of the U.S.-Mexico border where a father and daughter drowned attempting to cross into the United States in 2019, in Matamoros, Tamaulipas. Oscar Alberto Martinez and his 23-month-old daughter, Angie Valeria, had migrated from El Salvador and planned to seek political asylum in the U.S. when they died. Verónica G. Cárdenas/Getty Images hide caption

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Verónica G. Cárdenas/Getty Images

Wednesday

Thursday

Jesmyn Ward poses for a portrait near DeLisle Bayou in DeLisle, Miss. Ward, 40, has chosen to return to DeLisle and raise her children there, despite her profound ambivalence about what the town represents. Emily Kask for NPR hide caption

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Emily Kask for NPR

Writing Mississippi: Jesmyn Ward Salvages Stories Of The Silenced

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Friday

Denis Johnson, who won the 2007 National Book Award for Tree of Smoke, died Thursday. Cindy Johnson/Courtesy of Farrar, Straus & Giroux hide caption

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Cindy Johnson/Courtesy of Farrar, Straus & Giroux

Monday

Jacqueline Woodson, pictured here at the National Book Awards ceremony last month, won the young people's literature prize for her memoir in verse, Brown Girl Dreaming. Robin Platzer/Twin Images/AP hide caption

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Robin Platzer/Twin Images/AP

Wednesday