This Aug. 31 death was a huge blow to Kentucky arts and culture (from the Courier Journal):

Wendell Berry, the prolific novelist, poet, essayist, philosopher, agrarian, activist, pacifist and farmer, who was one of Kentucky’s greatest writers and helped inspire the farm-to-table and modern American food movement, has died. He was 92.

Berry’s death, on Aug. 31, was confirmed by his publisher, Counterpoint Press. “In a world that feels under siege, Wendell’s writing asks us to slow down, to focus on community, and to think seriously about what we owe each other as fellow humans,” publisher Alyson Forbes said in a statement. “Few writers have held so steadily to a single, clear-eyed vision across decades.”

Berry authored poetry, fiction and essays, but was probably best known for “The Unsettling of America” – a polemic against industrial agriculture and for a more responsible way of farming, with an aim of preserving land, culture and rural communities.

Berry was a man of the land. His writings on life in Kentucky focused on the beauty of the state, and the moral failure of preserving what distinguishes the commonwealth.

Suffice it to say, he was not a fan of data centers that desecrate natural beauty, threaten the environment and put unnecessary burdens on unwilling neighbors whose voices are muffled by greedy contractors and tech oligarchs.

I am amazed he was never named a Kentucky poet laureate. Hell, I’m amazed he was never named a national poet laureate.

Another ironic tidbit: He outlived the Courier Journal reporter who put his obituary together. This from the same CJ article:

Longtime Courier Journal reporter Andy Wolfson compiled the information for this story prior to his retirement. Wolfson died in September 2025.