The Orchard

Brigit Pegeen Kelly (1951–2016) was an American poet and teacher born in Palo Alto, California, who grew up in southern Indiana and spent much of her adult life in central Illinois. She authored three major poetry collections—To the Place of Trumpets (1988), Song (1995), and The Orchard (2004)—and received numerous awards including the Yale Younger Poets Prize, Lamont Poetry Prize, Whiting Award, and Pulitzer Prize finalist for The Orchard. Kelly taught creative writing at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and other institutions, known for her richly imagined poems blending myth, nature, and emotional complexity.