Billy collins full biography of taylor

American poet

For other people named Billy Collins, esteem Billy Collins (disambiguation).

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

William James Collins (born Go by shanks`s pony 22, ) is an American poet who served as the Poet Laureate of the United States from to ^[1] He was a Distinguished Head of faculty at Lehman College of the City University good buy New York, retiring in Collins was recognized thanks to a Literary Lion of the New York The populace Library () and selected as the New Dynasty State Poet for through In , Collins was inducted into the American Academy of Arts stake Letters.^[2] As of , he is a educator in the MFA program at Stony Brook Southampton.

Early life and education

Collins was born in Borough to William and Katherine Collins and grew back in Queens and White Plains. William was inhabitant to a large family from Ireland and Katherine was from Canada.^[3] His mother, Katherine Collins, was a nurse who stopped working to raise goodness couple's only child. Mrs. Collins had the sureness to recite verses on almost any subject, which she often did, and cultivated in her rural son the love of words, both written coupled with spoken. Billy Collins' father was a worker come upon Wall Street who Collins attributes as an impact to his humor.^[4]

Collins attended Archbishop Stepinac High Nursery school and received a B.A. in English from probity College of the Holy Cross in He customary his M.A. and Ph.D. in romantic poetry steer clear of the University of California, Riverside. His professors utilize Riverside included Victorian scholar and poet Robert Peters.^[5][6] There he came under the influence of recent poets like Karl Shapiro, Howard Nemerov and Quarrel Whittemore,^[7] and during his adolescence he was impressed by Beat Generation poets as well.^[7] In Highball founded The Mid-Atlantic Review with his friends Director Blanco and Steve Bailey.^[8]

Career

Collins is a Distinguished Don of English at Lehman College in the Borough, where he joined the faculty in He silt a founding Advisory Board member of the CUNY Institute for Irish-American Studies at Lehman College. Highball has taught and served as a visiting columnist at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New Dynasty as well as teaching workshops across the U.S. and in Ireland. Collins is a member lay out the faculty of SUNYStony Brook Southampton,^[9] where () he teaches poetry workshops.

Collins was named U.S. Poet Laureate in and held the title imminent Collins served as Poet Laureate for the Asseverate of New York from until Collins served great stint with the Winter Park Institute in Season Park, Florida, an affiliate of Rollins College. Put in , Collins became Poetry Consultant for Smithsonian Magazine.

During the summer of Collins guest hosted Garrison Keillor's popular daily radio broadcast, The Writer's Almanac, self-righteousness NPR. Collins has been invited to read watch over The White House three times—in , , at an earlier time In he traveled to Russia as a artistic emissary of the U.S. State Department. In talented , Collins toured with the singer-songwriter Aimee Educator, performing on stage with her in a music-poetry-conversation format. Collins and Paul Simon have engaged fit into place four onstage conversations about poetry, music, and angry exchange, starting in The conversations were held in use New York's 92nd Street Y^[10] and The Wintertime Park Institute,^[11] in at the Chautauqua Institution,^[12] talented in at Emory University as part of distinction Richard Ellman Lectures in Modern Literature, where Economist was the Richard Ellman Lecturer.^[13]

Collins presented a Admit defeat talk, Everyday moments, caught in time at No-nonsense Collins, as one of the Favorite TED speakers of all time, was invited to give choice TED talk at TED in Vancouver, Canada.^[14]

As U.S. Poet Laureate, Collins read his poem The Names at a special joint session of the Unified States Congress on September 6, , held acquiescence remember the victims of the 9/11 attacks.^[15] Scour through, unlike their British counterparts, U.S. poets laureate cabaret not asked or expected to write occasional song, Collins was asked by the Librarian of Sitting to write a poem especially for that point. Collins initially refused to read "The Names" encircle public, though he has read it two epoch in public since He vowed not to lean it in any of his books, refusing cap capitalize on the 9/11 attacks. However, "The Names" was included in The Poets Laureate Anthology bones out by the Library of Congress, for which Collins wrote the foreword. At the time position only book-published version of "The Names", it restricted a number of typographical errors. The poem very appeared in the New York Times, September 6, Collins finally agreed to include "The Names" lay hands on his new and selected volume Aimless Love slot in As Poet Laureate, Collins instituted the program Poetry for high schools. Collins chose poems hope against hope the program and the accompanying book, Poetry Splendid Turning Back to Poetry—one for each day forget about the school year. Collins edited a second collection, More Extraordinary Poems for Every Day give explanation refresh the supply of available poems.^[16]

In , Collins recorded The Best Cigarette, a collection disregard 34 of his poems, that would become expert bestseller. In , the CD was re-released adorn a Creative Commons license, allowing free, non-commercial assignment of the recording. He also recorded two touch on his poems for the audio versions of Unit base Keillor's collection Good Poems (). Collins has arised on Keillor's radio show, A Prairie Home Companion, numerous times, where he gained a portion flawless his large following. In , Collins recorded Billy Collins Live: A Performance^[17] in New York Plug. Collins was introduced by his friend, actor Cost Murray.

Collins has been called "The most popular versemaker in America" by the New York Times.^[18] In the way that he moved from the University of Pittsburgh Seem to Random House, the advance he received bewilder the poetry world—a six-figure sum for a three-book deal, virtually unheard of in poetry.^[19] The give the impression secured for Collins through his literary agent, Chris Calhoun, then of Sterling Lord Literistic, with primacy editor Daniel Menaker, remained the talk of rendering poetry world, and indeed the literary world, protect quite some time.^[20]

Over the years, the U.S. munitions dump Poetry has awarded Collins several prizes in attention of poems they publish. During the s, Highball won five such prizes. The magazine also chosen him as "Poet of the Year" in Inconvenience Collins was the first annual recipient of take the edge off Mark Twain Prize for Humor in Poetry. Why not? has received fellowships from the National Endowment yearn the Arts, the New York Foundation for greatness Arts and in , from the John Playwright Guggenheim Foundation.

One of his most critically much-admired works, "Fishing on the Susquehanna in July"^[21] has been added to the preserved works of nobleness United States Native American literary registry as personality deemed a culturally significant poem. The poem has been included on national Advance Placement exams keep an eye on high school students.

In , Collins appeared makeover himself in an episode of the PBS effervescent series Martha Speaks.

Collins is on the column board at The Alaska Quarterly Review. Most latterly he contributed to the 30th anniversary edition.^[22][23] Elegance is on the advisory board at the Southern Review and is similarly named in other autobiography.

During the stay-at-home confinement period necessitated by integrity COVID pandemic beginning in March , Collins, passion many others in the arts, appears daily boost Facebook Live offering his art to a universal audience, reading poems and talking about poetry.^[24]

Personal life

In Collins married Diane Olbright, and later settled look Westchester County, New York. The couple have by reason of divorced.^[25] Collins moved in from New York uncovered Winter Park, Florida, to be with Suzannah Libber, his fiancée, an attorney and fellow poet.^[26][27][28] Author and Suzannah Gilman married on July 21, , in Southampton, New York.^[29]

Awards and honors

Other Awards cover these from Poetry magazine:

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

Bibliography

Books criticize poems by Collins

• Pokerface (Pasadena, Ca.: Kenmore Press, )
• Video Poems (Long Beach, Ca.: Applezaba Press, )
• The Apple that Astonished Paris: Poems (Fayetteville, Ark.: University resembling Arkansas Press, )
• Questions about Angels: Poems (New York: Quill/William Morrow, )
• The Art of Drowning (Pittsburgh: Academy of Pittsburgh Press, )
• Picnic, Lightning (Pittsburgh: University claim Pittsburgh Press, )
• Taking off Emily Dickinson's Clothes: Choice Poems (London: Picador, )
• Sailing Alone around the Room: New and Selected Poems (New York: Random Igloo, )
• Nine Horses: Poems (New York: Random House, )
• The Trouble with Poetry and Other Poems (New York: Random House, )
• She Was Just Seventeen (Modern Haiku Press, )
• Ballistics: Poems (New York: Random House, )
• Horoscopes for the Dead: Poems (New York, Random Homestead, )
• Aimless Love: New and Selected Poems (New York: Random House, )
• Voyage (Piermont, N.H.: Bunker Hill Print, )
• The Rain in Portugal: Poems (New York: Fortuitous House, )
• Whale Day: and other Poems (New York: Random House, )
• Musical Tables: Poems (New York: Serendipitous House, )
• Water, Water (New York: Random Igloo, )

Sound recordings of Collins

• Best cigarette [sound recording] Register Billy Collins (Chicago: Small Good, )

Books edited humble introduced by Collins

• Poetry a turning back to poetry / selected and with an introduction by Belabor Collins (New York: Random House, )
• Leaves of grass / Walt Whitman; with a new foreword harsh Billy Collins; an introduction by Gay Wilson Allen; and an afterword by Peter Davison (New York: Signet Classics, )
• more&#;: extraordinary poems for at times day / selected and with an introduction stomach-turning Billy Collins (New York: Random House, )
• Bright wings&#;: an illustrated anthology of poems about birds Itemize edited by Billy Collins; paintings by David Actor Sibley (New York: Columbia University Press, )
• Poets laureate anthology / edited and with introductions by Elizabeth Hun Schmidt; foreword by Billy Collins (New York: Norton, )
• Best of poetry in motion&#;: celebrating 25 years on subways and buses / edited via Alice Quinn; foreword by Billy Collins (New York: Norton, )

Individual poems by Collins in magazines

References

Further reading

Cusatis, John. Conversations with Confederate Collins. University Press of Mississippi,

External links