Pastan published 15 books of poetry, including Almost an Elegy (2022), Queen of a Rainy Country (2006), Carnival Evening (1998, finalist for the National Book Award), Imperfect Paradise (1988, finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize), and A Fraction of Darkness (1985, winner of the Maurice English Poetry Award). Among other honors, she won the Alice Fay di Castagnola Award from the Poetry Society of America, the Bess Hokin Prize from Poetry Magazine, the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, the Thomas Dylan Award, and she served as Poet Laureate of Maryland from 1991 to 1995. Pastan taught at Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference for 20 years.