NEWSMAKERS

July 2, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

NEWSMAKERS

Mel Gibson sells Conn. estate for $24M

GREENWICH, Conn.

Actor Mel Gibson has sold his 75-acre estate in Greenwich, Conn., for $24 million.

The property, known as Old Mill Farm, had been on the market since 2007, when it was listed for $39.5 million. It recently had been advertised for $29.7 million.

According to town property records, the estate was bought by Cosette Property LLC. It includes a 16,000-square-foot Tudor-style mansion that was built in 1926 for financier George Lewis Ohstrom. It also has a five-horse stable, log cabin, 60-foot swimming pool and a stream-fed pond.

Merwin named poet laureate

WASHINGTON

A writer who stopped using punctuation in the 1960s and spent much of the past 30 years secluded in Hawaii will become the nation’s next chief poet.

The Library of Congress announced Thursday that William S. Merwin will become the 17th U.S. poet laureate this fall. He succeeds Kay Ryan, who has held the post since 2008.

The 82-year-old Merwin is a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner. He won in 2009 for “The Shadow of Sirius” and in 1971. He studied poetry at Princeton University and has written more than 30 books.