Wendell Berry, the acclaimed American writer, farmer and environmentalist has died at 92. Berry died on Monday, August 31, 2026, at his home in Port Royal, Kentucky, his daughter Mary Berry confirmed to The New York Times. A cause of death was not immediately disclosed.
His family was deeply rooted in Henry County, Kentucky, where the land was farmed for many generations. Berry studied English at the University of Kentucky, where he also earned his master’s degree. He later studied creative writing at Stanford University under novelist and environmentalist Wallace Stegner. Berry also traveled to Italy during his search for an ideal career and then landed in New York to learn and teach at New York University. After teaching at New York University for two years, Berry ultimately decided to return to Kentucky. Alongside farming, Berry also wrote about agriculture, conservation and the importance of local communities. Berry farmed with traditional methods. He used Belgian draft horses and often rejected modern technologies he believed harmed the environment.
Wendell Erdman Berry was born in Louisville, Kentucky, on August 5, 1934, and was raised in a farming community. In 1964, he and his wife, Tanya Amyx Berry, moved back to Henry County and began farming near the Kentucky River, where his ancestors had lived since 1803. They purchased Lanes Landing, a 125-acre farm nearby, and began cultivating vegetables for their own table as well as sheep, corn, and grain crops. Additionally, Berry started a 20-year teaching association with the University of Kentucky.
Berry had often visited the house as a boy and had also spent a summer there with his wife, Tanya, according to his writings. In an essay titled “The Long-Legged House,” Berry addressed his decision to move back home and wrote, “In the life we lived that summer, we represented to ourselves what we wanted — and it was not the headlong pilgrimage after money and comfort and prestige.
The author spent more than six decades writing poetry, fiction and essays that explored humanity’s relationship with nature. He became one of America’s strongest voices against industrial farming and environmental destruction. His writing work also includes poetry collections, novels and cultural criticism.
Berry wrote more than 50 books during his career.
His 1977 book “The Unsettling of America: Culture & Agriculture” became a landmark work in the sustainable farming movement.
