Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Carolyn Kizer, "whose verse, overtly political and bitingly satirical, came, as she fondly put it, with 'a sting in the tail,' " died last week, the New York Times reported. She was 89. Kizer won the 1985 Pulitzer for Yin. Her poetry collections include Cool Calm & Collected: Poems 1960-2000, Carrying Over, Mermaids in the Basement, The Nearness of You, Harping On: Poems, 1985-1995 and Pro Femina.
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Zilpha Keatley Snyder, who wrote nearly 50 books, died last Tuesday, October 7, at the age of 87. The New York Times described her as having "mined memories of little demons at the foot of her childhood bed to spin tales of wonder, mystery and suspense that beguiled two generations of children and young adults."
Three of her novels were Newbery Honor Books: The Egypt Game (1967), The Headless Cupid (1971) and The Witches of Worm (1972). She was also well-known for her Green Sky Trilogy, which was published in the 1970s.
Commenting on why she wrote, Snyder said that writing fiction is "a lot like being in love. The similarity lies in the tendency of people truly in love to see everything not only through their own eyes, but also through the eyes of the person they love. As in, 'What would he think of that?' or 'How would she feel about that?' "
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Jane Queller, former national accounts manager at Consortium Book Sales & Distribution, died on Sunday after an extended illness. Consortium said that she championed independent publishers "with enthusiasm and energy until she resigned in October 2013 to fight the illness that finally took her life. Jane's passing was peaceful. She was in no pain, and was surrounded by those she loved. A memorial service will be held in New York sometime before the end of the year."
Queller earlier worked as national accounts manager at Continuum and Yale University Press. Before that, she was a manager at several bookstores: Labyrinth Books, Paperbacks Plus, New York University Bookstore and Borders.