Maxine Kumin (June 6, 1925–February 6, 2014) was a poet and author from the United States. In 1981-1982, she was designated Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress. She was also a MacArthur "Genius" Award winner. Her book Stone Soup (1970), which won the National Book Award, brought her national recognition. It was followed by two other poetry collections: A Tree Is Nice (1972) and The Living Room Light Is On (1974). A novel, The Bread We Eat (1976), and a book of short stories, The Evening Star (1978), both written with Judith McCarty, further established her reputation as an important voice in American literature. Kumin was born in Chicago but grew up in Los Angeles. Her parents were Jewish immigrants from Ukraine and Russia. When she was six years old, her family moved to New York City where she lived until she was 18. After graduating from Barnard College with a degree in English literature, Kumin went back home to California. She has lived there ever since, except for a three-year sojourn in France after winning a Guggenheim Fellowship. Even though she published more than 20 books throughout her career, Kumin said that she did not consider herself a writer but a painter who happened to write poems.