Not since the renowned Robert Frost has a contemporary poet achieved such widespread critical acclaim and immense popular appeal. With six books of poetry to his name, Billy Collins has sold nearly 100,000 copies of his last three books alone, a feat unmatched by any poet in recent decades.
Collins' poems expertly blend genial, highly literate earnestness, restlessness, and a fear-based appreciation of the mundane. As the United States Poet Laureate since 2000, appointed by the Library of Congress, his writing is characterized by Garrison Keillor-esque humor and dry, New York wit that punctuates each verse like a breath of fresh air.
Throughout his illustrious career, Collins has received numerous prestigious literary awards, including fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Guggenheim Foundation. He has also won the Bess Hokin Prize, the Frederick Bock Prize, the Oscar Blumenthal Prize, and the Levinson Prize.
Currently, Collins serves as a professor of English at City University of New York's Lehman College, where he has taught for the past 30 years.
