Billy Collins

Not since Robert Frost has a contemporary poet matched their critical acclaim with such vast popular appeal. The author of six books of poetry, Billy Collins has sold more volumes (nearly 100,000 copies from his last 3 books alone) than any poet in recent decades. Collins' poems mix genial, highly literate earnestness, restlessness and a fear-based appreciation of the mundane. The Library of Congress' U.S. Poet Laureate since 2000, his writing employs Garrison Keillor-esque humor, and his dry, New York wit punctuates each verse like a breath of fresh air. Among his many literary awards, he has received fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts, The National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation; he has won the Bess Hokin Prize, the Frederick Bock Prize, the Oscar Blumenthal Prize, and the Levinson Prize. He is currently professor of English at City University of New York, Lehman College, where he has taught for the last 30 years.