Dent, Tory 1958–2005
Dent, Tory 1958–2005
(Victorine Dent)
OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born 1958 in Wilmington, DE; died of an AIDS-related infection, December 30, 2005, in New York, NY. Author. A poet, essayist, and art critic, Dent was best known for her three collections of verses dealing with her struggle with AIDS. While attending college—she earned a B.A. from Barnard College in 1981 and then completed a master's degree at New York University—she contracted the HIV virus from her boyfriend, who later died of the virus. Several years after his death, she learned she had the disease, too. She spent nearly two decades undergoing treatments, visiting hospitals, and wondering whether she would live to see the next year. Her very personal, raw, and honest portrayals of these experiences are related in three poetry collections: What Silence Equals (1993), HIV, Mon Amour (1999), which won the James Laughlin Award from the Academy of American Poets and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and Black Milk (2005). Dent also contributed regularly to poetry journals and anthologies. In addition to her poems, she made a living writing catalog copy for art exhibitions and essays for art journals.
OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:
PERIODICALS
Los Angeles Times, January 9, 2006, p. B9.
New York Times, January 3, 2006, p. B7.