May Sarton (1912тАУ1995) was born on May 3 in Wondelgem, Belgium, and grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Her first volume of poetry,┬аEncounters in April, was published in 1937 and her first novel,┬аThe Single Hound, in 1938.┬аHer novels A Shower of Summer Days, The Birth of a Grandfather, and┬аFaithful Are the Wounds, as well as her poetry collection┬аIn Time Like Air, all received┬аnominations for the National Book Award.
An accomplished memoirist, Sarton came out as a lesbian in her 1965 book┬аMrs. Stevens Hears the Mermaids Singing. Her memoir┬аJournal of a Solitude┬а(1973) was an account of her experiences as a female artist.┬аSarton spent her later years in York, Maine, living and writing by the sea. In her memoir┬аEndgame: A Journal of the Seventy-Ninth Year┬а(1992), she shares her own personal thoughts on getting older. Her final poetry collection,┬аComing into Eighty, was published in 1994.┬аSarton died on July 16, 1995, in York, Maine.