Statement from Burgum on the Passing of North Dakota Poet Laureate Rough Rider Award Winner Larry Woiwode

BISMARCK, ND — Governor Doug Burgum today issued the following statement regarding the passing of North Dakota Poet Laureate Larry Woiwode, 1992 recipient of the Theodore Roosevelt Rough Rider Award, the state’s highest citizen honor.

“Larry Woiwode has inspired and mentored countless writers over his long and distinguished career. Through it all, he always remembered his roots in North Dakota, since being our state’s Poet Laureate since 1995 and leading numerous classes and workshops for aspiring writers in his home state,” Burgum said. “His award-winning work has garnered much praise and instilled immense pride in his fellow North Dakotans. Kathryn and I send our deepest condolences to his family, friends and all who have found joy and inspiration in his written.

Woiwode was born in 1941 in Carrington, near his home town of Sykeston. In 1950, his family moved to Illinois. His writing career began in New York, and by 1966 he was publishing stories and poetry in the new yorker. His work has also appeared in Atlantic, Squire, Harper’sand The Paris review.

Woiwode novels included What I’m gonna do I think (1969), Beyond the bedroom wall (1975) and born brothers (1988), in addition to books of short stories, poetry and non-fiction. He was a Guggenheim Scholar, winner of the John Dos Passos Prize, recipient of the William Faulkner Foundation Prize and the American Academy of Arts and Letters Medal of Merit. It was also a finalist for the Book Critics Circle and the National Book Awards, and appeared in four volumes of Best American Short Stories.