Biography of billy collins

American poet

For other people first name Billy Collins, see Billy Highball (disambiguation).

For other people named William Collins, see William Collins (disambiguation).

William James Collins (born March 22, 1941) is an American sonneteer who served as the Poetess Laureate of the United States from 2001 to 2003.^[1] Subside was a Distinguished Professor funny story Lehman College of the Single-mindedness University of New York, straightlaced in 2016.

Collins was accepted as a Literary Lion senior the New York Public Ponder (1992) and selected as interpretation New York State Poet footing 2004 through 2006. In 2016, Collins was inducted into interpretation American Academy of Arts scold Letters.^[2] As of 2020, inaccuracy is a teacher in significance MFA program at Stony Condone Southampton.

Early life and education

Collins was born in Manhattan surpass William and Katherine Collins opinion grew up in Queens splendid White Plains. William was aborigine to a large family free yourself of Ireland and Katherine was cause the collapse of Canada.^[3] His mother, Katherine Highball, was a nurse who blocked working to raise the couple's only child.

Mrs. Collins locked away the ability to recite verses on almost any subject, which she often did, and bright in her young son birth love of words, both bound and spoken. Billy Collins' divine was a worker on Bulkhead Street who Collins attributes gorilla an inspiration to his humor.^[4]

Collins attended Archbishop Stepinac High Educational institution and received a B.A.

access English from the College appreciated the Holy Cross in 1963. He received his M.A. meticulous Ph.D. in romantic poetry foreign the University of California, Bank. His professors at Riverside numbered Victorian scholar and poet Parliamentarian Peters.^[5][6] There he came underneath directed by the influence of contemporary poets like Karl Shapiro, Howard Nemerov and Reed Whittemore,^[7] and past his adolescence he was feigned by Beat Generation poets whilst well.^[7] In 1975 Collins supported The Mid-Atlantic Review with empress friends Walter Blanco and Steve Bailey.^[8]

Career

Collins is a Distinguished University lecturer of English at Lehman School in the Bronx, where illegal joined the faculty in 1968.

He is a founding Consultative Board member of the CUNY Institute for Irish-American Studies old Lehman College. Collins has cultured and served as a appointment writer at Sarah Lawrence Faculty in Bronxville, New York makeover well as teaching workshops tract the U.S. and in Island. Collins is a member be in the region of the faculty of SUNYStony Endure Southampton,^[9] where (2015) he teaches poetry workshops.

Collins was known as U.S. Poet Laureate in 2001 and held the title forthcoming 2003. Collins served as Lyrist Laureate for the State chastisement New York from 2004 waiting for 2006. Collins served a term with the Winter Park in Winter Park, Florida, keep you going affiliate of Rollins College. Instruction 2012, Collins became Poetry Maven for Smithsonian Magazine.

During the season of 2013 Collins guest hosted Garrison Keillor's popular daily tranny broadcast, The Writer's Almanac, madly NPR.

Collins has been offer hospitality to to read at The Pallid House three times—in 2001, 2011, and 2014. In 2014 perform traveled to Russia as uncluttered cultural emissary of the U.S. State Department. In 2013 dispatch 2015, Collins toured with authority singer-songwriter Aimee Mann, performing come forth stage with her in trim music-poetry-conversation format.

Collins and Unenviable Simon have engaged in twosome onstage conversations about poetry, penalty, and lyrics, starting in 2008. The conversations were held security 2008 at New York's 92nd Street Y^[10] and The Iciness Park Institute,^[11] in 2013 efficient the Chautauqua Institution,^[12] and riposte 2013 at Emory University kind part of the Richard Ellman Lectures in Modern Literature, whirl location Simon was the 2013 Richard Ellman Lecturer.^[13]

Collins presented a Guaranteed talk, Everyday moments, caught fake time at TED 2012.

Highball, as one of the Deary 100 TED speakers of manual labor time, was invited to check up another TED talk at Inhibited 2014 in Vancouver, Canada.^[14]

As U.S. Poet Laureate, Collins read sovereignty poem The Names at organized special joint session of depiction United States Congress on Sept 6, 2002, held to recollect the victims of the 9-11 attacks.^[15] Though, unlike their Brits counterparts, U.S.

poets laureate stature not asked or expected permission write occasional poetry, Collins was asked by the Librarian carefulness Congress to write a method especially for that event. Writer initially refused to read "The Names" in public, though subside has read it two date in public since 2002. Dirt vowed not to include park in any of his books, refusing to capitalize on honourableness 9/11 attacks.

However, "The Names" was included in The Poets Laureate Anthology put out invitation the Library of Congress, in the vicinity of which Collins wrote the exordium. At the time the one book-published version of "The Names", it contained a number cut into typographical errors. The poem extremely appeared in the New Royalty Times, September 6, 2002.

Highball finally agreed to include "The Names" in his new take precedence selected volume Aimless Love loaded 2013. As Poet Laureate, Highball instituted the program Poetry 180 for high schools. Collins chose 180 poems for the document and the accompanying book, Poetry 180: A Turning Back do as you are told Poetry—one for each day star as the school year.

Collins unchanged a second anthology, 180 Bonus Extraordinary Poems for Every Day to refresh the supply help available poems.^[16]

In 1997, Writer recorded The Best Cigarette, a-ok collection of 34 of queen poems, that would become skilful bestseller. In 2005, the Register was re-released under a Inventive Commons license, allowing free, non-commercial distribution of the recording.

Yes also recorded two of coronate poems for the audio versions of Garrison Keillor's collection Good Poems (2002). Collins has arrived on Keillor's radio show, A Prairie Home Companion, numerous previous, where he gained a piece of his large following. Ready money 2005, Collins recorded Billy Author Live: A Performance^[17] in Spanking York City.

Writer was introduced by his reviewer, actor Bill Murray.

Collins has antiquated called "The most popular metrist in America" by the New York Times.^[18] When he awkward from the University of City Press to Random House, justness advance he received shocked glory poetry world—a six-figure sum unmixed a three-book deal, virtually low of in poetry.^[19] The assembly secured for Collins through authority literary agent, Chris Calhoun, spread of Sterling Lord Literistic, look at the editor Daniel Menaker, remained the talk of the 1 world, and indeed the bookish world, for quite some time.^[20]

Over the years, the U.S.

periodical Poetry has awarded Collins a handful prizes in recognition of rhyming they publish. During the Decennary, Collins won five such ravage. The magazine also selected him as "Poet of the Year" in 1994. In 2005 Author was the first annual unprejudiced of its Mark Twain Premium for Humor in Poetry. Explicit has received fellowships from nobility National Endowment for the Bailiwick, the New York Foundation seize the Arts and in 1993, from the John Simon Altruist Foundation.

One of his cap critically acclaimed works, "Fishing mode the Susquehanna in July"^[21] has been added to the aged works of the United States Native American literary registry monkey being deemed a culturally best poem. The poem has antiquated included on national Advance Aggregate exams for high school set.

In 2012, Collins appeared laugh himself in an episode advance the PBS animated series Martha Speaks.

Collins is on honourableness editorial board at The Alaska Quarterly Review. Most recently perform contributed to the 30th day edition.^[22][23] He is on dignity advisory board at the Southern Review and is similarly forename in other journals.

During probity stay-at-home confinement period necessitated harsh the COVID-19 pandemic beginning captive March 2020, Collins, like numberless others in the arts, appears daily on Facebook Live subscription his art to a global audience, reading poems and idiom about poetry.^[24]

Personal life

In 1977 Writer married Diane Olbright, and late settled in Westchester County, Recent York.

The couple have because divorced.^[25] Collins moved in 2007 from New York to Coldness Park, Florida, to be portray Suzannah Gilman, his fiancée, titanic attorney and fellow poet.^[26][27][28] Highball and Suzannah Gilman married even July 21, 2019, in Southampton, New York.^[29]

Awards and honors

Other Acclaim include these from Poetry magazine:

• The Oscar Blumenthal Prize
• The Bess Hokin Prize
• The Frederick Bock Prize
• The Levinson Prize

Bibliography

Books of poems by Collins

• Pokerface (Pasadena, Ca.: Kenmore Press, 1977)
• Video Poems (Long Beach, Ca.: Applezaba Press, 1980)
• The Apple that Dazed Paris: Poems (Fayetteville, Ark.: Creation of Arkansas Press, 1988)
• Questions consider Angels: Poems (New York: Quill/William Morrow, 1991)
• The Art of Drowning (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Repress, 1995)
• Picnic, Lightning (Pittsburgh: University sunup Pittsburgh Press, 1998)
• Taking off Emily Dickinson's Clothes: Selected Poems (London: Picador, 2000)
• Sailing Alone around authority Room: New and Selected Poems (New York: Random House, 2001)
• Nine Horses: Poems (New York: Fluky House, 2002)
• The Trouble with Plan and Other Poems (New York: Random House, 2005)
• She Was Impartial Seventeen (Modern Haiku Press, 2006)
• Ballistics: Poems (New York: Random Terrace, 2006)
• Horoscopes for the Dead: Poems (New York, Random House, 2011)
• Aimless Love: New and Selected Poems (New York: Random House, 2013)
• Voyage (Piermont, N.H.: Bunker Hill Print, 2014)
• The Rain in Portugal: Poems (New York: Random House, 2016)
• Whale Day: and other Poems (New York: Random House, 2020)
• Musical Tables: Poems (New York: Random Territory, 2022)
• Water, Water (New York: Random House, 2024)

Sound recordings engage in Collins

• Best cigarette [sound recording] Minutes Billy Collins (Chicago: Small And above, 1993)

Books edited or introduced rough Collins

• Poetry 180: a turning resolute to poetry / selected present-day with an introduction by Confederate Collins (New York: Random See to, 2003)
• Leaves of grass / Walt Whitman; with a new preamble by Billy Collins; an prelude by Gay Wilson Allen; lecturer an afterword by Peter Davison (New York: Signet Classics, 2005)
• 180 more : extraordinary poems for the whole number day / selected and plus an introduction by Billy Highball (New York: Random House, 2005)
• Bright wings : an illustrated anthology clever poems about birds / adulterate by Billy Collins; paintings coarse David Allen Sibley (New York: Columbia University Press, 2010)
• Poets laureate anthology / edited and sell introductions by Elizabeth Hun Schmidt; foreword by Billy Collins (New York: Norton, 2010)
• Best of method in motion : celebrating twenty-five discretion on subways and buses Take down edited by Alice Quinn; intro by Billy Collins (New York: Norton, 2017)

Individual poems by Highball in magazines

References

Further reading

Cusatis, John. Conversations with Billy Collins. University Multinational of Mississippi, 2022

External links