calsfoundation@cals.org
July 26, 1991
Lily Peter, state poet laureate, died. Her biographer, Annie Laura Jaggers, called her “an anachronistic symbol of the pioneering spirit of all Americans and particularly of Arkansas, a state that is a haven for contrasts and extremes.” Having a reverence for words, she wrote throughout her life, producing several published and unpublished manuscripts. Her published works include The Green Linen of Summer, The Great Riding: The Story of De Soto in America, In the Beginning: Myths of the Western World, and Sea Dreams of the Mississippi.