Wendell Berry, Kentucky Poet and Farmer Who Loved God's Creation, Dies at 92
Wendell Berry, the Kentucky novelist, poet, and farmer whose writing championed agrarianism and care for God's creation, died on August 31 at his home in Port Royal. He was 92. Berry published more than 50 volumes of poetry, fiction, and essays over a career spanning six decades.
Wendell Berry died on August 31, 2026, at his home in Port Royal, Kentucky. He was 92.
Berry was born on August 5, 1934, in Louisville. He spent most of his life farming in Henry County, where his family had worked the land for generations. That rootedness shaped everything he wrote.
He published more than 50 volumes of poetry, fiction, and essays. His work focused on the importance of place, the ethics of land use, and a critique of industrial agriculture. Notable works include "The Unsettling of America" (1977) and his long-running series of novels set in the fictional town of Port William, including "Jayber Crow" (2000) and "Hannah Coulter" (2004).
Berry was a committed activist. He participated in nonviolent civil disobedience against the Vietnam War, mountaintop removal coal mining, and nuclear power plant construction. He famously refused to use a computer, writing all his drafts by hand.
In 2011, he helped establish the Berry Center in New Castle, Kentucky, to advocate for sustainable agriculture and healthy local economies. That same year, President Barack Obama presented him with the National Humanities Medal.
Berry was the first living writer inducted into the Kentucky Writers Hall of Fame in 2015.
His relationship with the University of Kentucky was complicated. He withdrew his papers from the institution in 2009 to protest its acceptance of coal industry funding. In 2020, he joined a lawsuit to prevent the university from removing a historic 1934 mural.
Colleagues and public figures remembered him as a moral voice who challenged Americans to slow down, value their communities, and respect the natural world.
