Poet Andrea Gibson Died at the Age of 49, Leaving Behind Their Wife and Three Loving Dogs
"A decade of magic with the most magical person in the universe. What a dream."
Published July 15 2025, 2:27 p.m. ET
To say the world of poetry has lost one of its greats couldn't begin to describe the hole left by the death of Andrea Gibson. The Colorado Poet Laureate died on July 14, 2025, at the age of 49 from ovarian cancer. News of their death was shared on their Instagram and began with a quote from Andrea: Whenever I leave this world, whether it's 60 years from now, I wouldn't want anyone to say I lost some battle. I'll be a winner that day."
The rest of the post goes on to list the many accomplishments Andrea earned throughout their life, including but not limited to authoring seven books, touring the world as an artist, and becoming the subject of an award-winning documentary. They even helped their high school win a state basketball championship. Andrea is survived by their wife and three glorious dogs.
Andrea Gibson spent a decade with their wife, poet Megan Falley.
Like many writers, Andrea documented their relationship with their wife through various blogs and posts online. In August 2022, Andrea devoted an entire Substack post to their engagement. Their then-fiancée, Megan Falley, was the one who did the proposing. Megan is also an award-winning poet who has written four poetry collections. She is a National Poetry Slam and Women of the World Poetry Slam Finalist who teaches workshops on writing poetry.
On the fateful day Megan asked Andrea to marry her, she did it on her love's birthday outside of the home they shared. "For a long time, I had been planning to propose to her on her birthday, August 6th," wrote Andrea. "When I found out I was having a cancer recurrence, however, some old and lost place in me felt it wasn’t a fair ask." Thankfully, Megan did the asking.
A little more than two years later, Andrea shared a holiday post on Instagram. A carousel of photos shows the happy couple posing for a Christmas photo with their three dogs. The dogs take up the rest of the images, apart from a photo of Andrea's hair. It was a good hair day. "This is the 10th Christmas I’ve spent with Meg," they wrote. "A decade of magic with the most magical person in the universe. What a dream."
Andrea Gibson and their wife spoke openly about Andrea's death.
Andrea's final interview was in June 2025 with NBC Chicago Today's Matthew Rodrigues for his It's OK to Ask Questions podcast. In their home, with their dogs next to them, Andrea and Megan spoke candidly about Andrea's cancer diagnosis and the idea of dying. Their ovarian cancer had metastasized, and Andrea explained that the last six months had been the most painful since their diagnosis four years ago.
Matthew described Andrea and Megan as the "most loving couple" he had ever interviewed. They discussed learning that Andrea's cancer was incurable and how they approached that diagnosis with joy, ultimately choosing to make a documentary about it. This wasn't an act; they were joyful for the time they shared and the moments they had left. The interview ends with Andrea and Megan sitting outside as Andrea reads a poem to her wife titled "Love Letter From the Afterlife."