McConkey, Sue, 1911-2001

Poet who lived in Alfred, Me.

Born in 1911 in Littleton, New Hampshire, Lillian "Sue" Goldberg lived in the Conway area until her marriage to Thomas Wright McConkey in 1934. The two settled on a hilltop farm, Star Hill, in Alfred in 1947. McConkey did not start writing until she was about 40, when she was encouraged to try writing poetry, and attended a Breadloaf summer conference. Her first volume of poetry, The view from Douglas Hill, was published in 1958 by Wake-Brook House, a small press specializing in hand-crafted books. Her second and third books, Hold bright the star and Jade bough, white shadows, came out five and ten years later, also from Wake-Brook House. McConkey's poetry is described as spare, clean and acute, and she was regarded as a master of the forms of Tanka and Haiku. She was highly regarded for her encouragement of young poets, who came from around New England to "Star Hill Poetry Day," a program founded by McConkey and her husband. McConkey was president of the Poetry Fellowship of Maine from 1962-63, and received several awards from the Maine Writers Conference, as well as honorary degrees from Nasson College in 1971 and Westbrook College in 1980. She was well-known as a speaker and for her involvement in national patriotic and literary organizations.