Billy Collins

William A. ("Billy") Collins (born March 22, 1941) is an American poet. He served two terms as the Poet Laureate of the United States from 2001 to 2003. In his home state, Collins has been recognized as a Literary Lion of the New York Public Library (1992) and selected as the New York State Poet for 2004.

Biography

William James "Billy" Collins was born in New York City on March 22, 1941 to William and Katherine Collins. He graduated with a bachelor's degree from the College of the Holy Cross in 1963 and received his M.A. and Ph.D in English from the University of California, Riverside [http://www.alumni.ucr.edu/notable_alumni.html] . He was a student of Victorian Scholar and poet Robert Peters at Riverside.

Collins is a distinguished professor of English at Lehman College in the Bronx, where he joined the faculty in 1968 and has taught for over thirty years. Additionally, he is a founding Advisory Board member of the CUNY Institute for Irish-American Studies at Lehman College. He also has taught and served as a visiting writer at Sarah Lawrence College in Yonkers, New York. Collins was named U.S. Poet Laureate in 2001 and held the title until 2003. Collins served as Poet Laureate for the State of New York from 2004 until 2006.

As U.S. Poet Laureate, Collins read his poem "The Names" [http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/poems/july-dec02/names_9-06.html] at a special joint session of the United States Congress on September 6, 2002, held to remember the victims of the 9/11 attacks.

In 1997, he recorded "The Best Cigarette" (ISBN 0-9658873-0-8), a collection of 34 of his poems that would become a bestseller. In 2005, the CD was re-released under a Creative Commons license, allowing free, non-commercial distribution of the recording. He also recorded two of his poems for the audio versions of Garrison Keillor's collection "Good Poems" (2002, ISBN 0-670-03126-7). In 2005, he recorded "Billy Collins Live: A Performance at the Peter Norton Symphony Space" in New York City. Collins was introduced by actor Bill Murray.

Over the years, "Poetry" has awarded him several prizes in recognition of poems they publish. During the 1990s, Collins won [http://poetryfoundation.org/archive/poet.html?id=80600 five such prizes] . The magazine also selected him as "Poet of the Year" in 1994. In 2005 Collins was the first annual recipient of the Mark Twain Prize for Humor in Poetry, bestowed by the Poetry Foundation (Poetry Magazine). He has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation in 1993, and the New York Foundation for the Arts.

Quotations

*(from 1999):

"As I'm writing, I'm always reader conscious. I have one reader in mind, someone who is in the room with me, and who I'm talking to, and I want to make sure I don't talk too fast, or too glibly. Usually I try to create a hospitable tone at the beginning of a poem. Stepping from the title to the first lines is like stepping into a canoe. A lot of things can go wrong."

*(from 2004):

"Moving from the position of United States poet laureate to New York State poet laureate might seem like a demotion or a drop in rank to the military-minded. It might even appear that I am heading toward eventually being crowned laureate of my ZIP code. But in fact, it is very gratifying to be honored again as a representative of poetry, this time by my native state where I grew up — more or less — and continue to live."

Bibliography

Poetry

*"Ballistics: Poems", (2008, ISBN 1-400-06491-0)
*"The Trouble With Poetry and Other Poems", (2005, ISBN 0-375-50382-X)
*"Nine Horses" (2002, ISBN 0-375-50381-1), named a notable book of the year by the New York Times Book Review
*"Sailing Alone Around the Room: New and Selected Poems" (2001, ISBN 0-375-50380-3), named a notable book of the year by the New York Times Book Review
*"Picnic, Lightning" (1998, ISBN 0-8229-4066-3)
*"The Art of Drowning" (1995, ISBN 0-8229-3893-6), which was a Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize finalist
*"Questions About Angels" (1991, ISBN 0-8229-4211-9), the winner (two years later) of the National Poetry Series competition
*"The Apple That Astonished Paris" (1988, ISBN 1-55728-023-1)
*"Video Poems" (1980)
*"Pokerface" (1977)

External links

wikiquote|Billy Collins

* [http://www.internationalartsmovement.org Billy Collins is scheduled to appear at International Arts Movement's Encounter 09 (Feb 26-28, 2009) in New York City]
* [http://www.bcactionpoet.org Watch a collection of 11 animated poems read aloud by Billy Collins]
* [http://www.bestcigarette.us 33 poems read aloud by Billy Collins, no charge (Creative Commons)]
* [http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poet.html?id=80600 Poems by Billy Collins at PoetryFoundation.org]
* [http://www.guernicamag.com/interviews/185/a_brisk_walk/ Author interview with Collins in Guernica Magazine (Guernicamag.com)]
* [http://www.guernicamag.com/poetry/184/after_reading_some_tales_of_th_1/ Poem by Collins]
* [http://www.billy-collins.com Billy Collins Fan site]
* [http://www.barclayagency.com/collins.html Steven Barclay Agency for Bookings - web page with a list of external links]
* [http://www.griffinpoetryprize.com/judges_2004.php?t=1 Griffin Poetry Prize biography (2004 judge and award emcee)]
* [http://poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/278 Billy Collins at poets.org]
* [http://www.cprw.com/Hilbert/collins2.htm Review of the opus of Billy Collins at The Contemporary Poetry Review]
* [http://www.poetenladen.de/billy-collins.htm Billy Collins at poetenladen.de (poetshop)]