Billy Collins was born on March 22, 1941 in New York City to William and Katherine Collins. He is the author of several books of poetry. He earned a BA from the College of Holy Cross. He earned a MA and PhD from the University of California-Riverside. He co-founded the Mid-Atlantic Review with Michael Shannon in 1975. He published throughout the 1980s. His poetry has appeared in anthologies, textbooks, and a variety of periodicals, including Poetry, American Poetry Review, American Scholar, Harper’s, Paris Review, and The New Yorker. In 1997, he was recorded reading thirty-three of his poems. His work has been featured in the Pushcart Prize anthology and has been chosen several times for the annual Best American Poetry series. He was named U.S. Poet Laureate in 2001. He was named “the most popular poet in America” by Bruce Weber in the New York Times. Collins is famous for casual, entertaining poems that welcome readers with humor. He admits that his poetry is “suburban”, domestic, and middle class. His level of fame is almost unprecedented in the world of contemporary poetry. His reading regularly sells out and he received a six-figure advance when he moved publishers in the late 1990s. He served two terms as the US Poet Laureate from 2001-2003. From 2004-2006 he was New York State Poet Laureate and he is a regular guest on National Public Radio programs. The first collection that he published outside the US was Taking off Emily Dickinson’s Clothes. He is a Distinguished Professor at Leham College of the City University of New York and has taught for the past 30 years. He is the Senior Distinguished Fellow of the Winter Park Institute in Florida. In 1992 he was recognized as a Literary Lion of the New York Public Library. He was selected as the New York State Poet for 2004-2006. He is also a writer-in-residence at Sarah Lawrence College.
Poetry Foundation. Web. 26 Apr. 2011.
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