Lynda Hull was born on December 5, 1954, in Newark, New Jersey. She received her B.A. from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and her M.A. from John Hopkins University. Her books of poetry include The Only World: Poems (HarperPerennial, 1995, edited with a foreword by David Wojahn); Star Ledger: Poems (1991), which won the 1991 Carl Sandburg Award and the 1990 Edwin Ford Piper Award; and Ghost Money (1986), which won the Juniper Prize. Hull served as a Poetry Editor at the journal Crazyhorse. She taught English at Indiana University University, De Paul University, and Vermont College. She was the recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Illinois Arts Council; she also received four Pushcart Prizes. David St. John wrote that "of all the poets of my generation, Lynda Hull remains the most heartbreaking, merciful, and consoling." Lynda Hull died in an automobile accident in 1994.