Ann Darr (March 13, 1920 – December 2, 2007) was an American

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

and educator who lived in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

Biography

Born Lois Ann Russell in

Bagley, Iowa Bagley is a town in Guthrie County, Iowa, United States. The population was 233 in the 2020 census, a decline from 354 in 2000 census. It is part of the Des Moines–West Des Moines Metropolitan Statistical Area. History Bagley had its start ...

she studied at the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is org ...

where she graduated in 1941 and also completed Civilian Pilot Training. After college she began her career as a writer and broadcaster on the

NBC Radio The National Broadcasting Company's NBC Radio Network (known as the NBC Red Network prior to 1942) was an American commercial radio network which was in operation from 1926 through 2004. Along with the NBC Blue Network it was one of the first t ...

daily program '' The Women of Tomorrow''. When war broke out and her husband, enlisted in the Navy, she applied to the

Women Airforce Service Pilots The Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) (also Women's Army Service Pilots or Women's Auxiliary Service Pilots) was a civilian women pilots' organization, whose members were United States federal civil service employees. Members of WASP became t ...

program and trained at Sweetwater, TX under pioneering aviator

Jacqueline Cochran Jacqueline Cochran (May 11, 1906 – August 9, 1980) was an American pilot and business executive. She pioneered women's aviation as one of the most prominent racing pilots of her generation. She set numerous records and was the first woman to br ...

. She wrote of her experience as a pilot in her 1978 book ''Cleared For Landing'' which ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

' praised for its "keen perception of the darker side of things."https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/10/AR2007121001832_2.html Washington Post obituary Darr taught creative writing at

American University The American University (AU or American) is a private federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Its main campus spans 90 acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, mostly in the Spring Valley neighborhood of Northwest D.C. AU was charte ...

and at the

Writer's Center The Writer's Center, founded in 1976, is an independent literary center that is housed in a 12,200-square-foot (1,130 m2) facility in the arts and entertainment district of Bethesda, Maryland. The organization consists of approximately 2,500 wri ...

Bethesda, Maryland Bethesda () is an unincorporated, census-designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland. It is located just northwest of Washington, D.C. It takes its name from a local church, the Bethesda Meeting House (1820, rebuilt 1849), which in ...

. She died of

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegeneration, neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in short-term me ...

and was buried as a veteran in 2007.

Selected works

*''St. Ann's Gut'' ( Morrow and Company, 1971) *''The Myth of a Woman's Fist'' (Morrow and Company, 1973) *''Cleared for Landing'' (

Dryad Press Dryad Press is an American small press and publisher. History Dryad Press got its beginning in 1967 when Merrill Leffler and Neil Lehrman founded ''Dryad'' magazine. Leffler was a writer and editor and is currently the poet laureate of Takoma P ...

, 1978) *''Riding With the Fireworks'' (

Alice James Books Alice James Books is an American non-profit poetry press located in Farmington, Maine and affiliated with the University of Maine at Farmington. History and mission "Alice James Books was founded as a co-operative press in Cambridge, MA in 197 ...

, 1981) *''Do You Take This Woman'' (

Washington Writers Publishing House Washington Writers' Publishing House is a cooperative, member-run, non-profit small press publishing poetry and fiction. The press was founded by Grace Cavalieri and John McNally in 1973 to publish authors who live in the Washington-Baltimore reg ...

, 1986) *''The Twelve Pound Cigarette'' (SCOP, 1990) *''Confessions of a Skewed Romantic'' ( The Bunny and Crocodile Press, 1993) *''Flying the Zuni Mountains'' ( Forest Woods Media Productions, 1994) *''Gussie, Mad Hannah & Me'' ( Argonne Press, 1999) *''Love in the Past Tense'' (Argonne, 2000)

References

External links

Obituary in ''The Washington Post''
by

Grace Cavalieri Grace Cavalieri is an American poet, playwright, and radio host of the Library of Congress program '' The Poet and the Poem''. In 2019, she was appointed the tenth Poet Laureate of Maryland. Education * BS - Education: English and History, The ...

Profile at Pritzker Military Museum and LibraryAnn Darr reading her poems with comment in the Recording Laboratory, Feb. 7, 1973
{{DEFAULTSORT:Darr, Ann American aviation writers American radio personalities American University faculty and staff Aviators from Iowa Poets from Iowa 1920 births 2007 deaths University of Iowa alumni American women poets 20th-century American poets 20th-century American women writers American women aviators American women non-fiction writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers American women academics 21st-century American women