A distinguished poet, critic and translator, Richard Howard held a unique place in contemporary American letters. Howard was credited with introducing modern French fiction—particularly examples of the Nouveau Roman—to the American public; his translation of Charles Baudelaire’s Les Fleurs du Mal won a National Book Award in 1984. Howard’s collection of essays Alone with America: Essays on the Art of Poetry in the United States since 1950 was praised as one of the first comprehensive overviews of American poetry from the latter half of the 20th century. Howard won the 1970 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry for his collection Untitled Subjects and his other honors included the American Book Award, the Harriet Monroe Memorial Prize, the PEN Translation Medal, the Levinson Prize, and the Ordre National du Mérite from the French government. For many years, Howard was the poetry editor of the Paris Review.

Howard died at the age of ninety-two on March 31, 2022.