Andrea Gibson, a celebrated poet and performance artist who through their verse explored gender identity, politics and their 4-year battle with terminal ovarian cancer, died Monday at age 49.

Readers and fans of Andrea Gibson’s work offered an outpouring of love, grief and touching tributes Monday about how the poet’s words found them at just the right time.

Andrea Gibson was a poet, author and ambassador of the arts. Gibson became the state's 10th Poet Laureate in 2023, with six full-length collections of poetry as well as two Independent Publishers Awards. They also won the first Women's World Poetry Slam and were selected as a finalist for three Goodreads Choice Awards.