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My name is Billy Collins

One of the most popular living poets in the United States, Billy Collins was born in New York City in 1941. Collins is the author of nine books of poetry, including She Was Just Seventeen (2006), The Trouble with Poetry and Other Poems (2005), Nine Horses (2002), and Sailing Alone Around the Room: New and Selected Poems (2001). His work appears regularly in such periodicals as Poetry, The New Yorker, The Paris Review, and Harper's Magazine, and has been featured in various textbooks and anthologies, including those for the Pushcart Prize and the annual Best American Poetry series. Between 2001 and 2004, Collins served two terms at the 11th Poet Laureate of the United States. 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. Other honors include fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Guggenheim Foundation, and the first annual Mark Twain Prize for Humor in Poetry. He is currently a Distinguished Professor of English at Lehman College in the Bronx, where has taught for over thirty years.

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My Ideas

Re: How will this age be remembered?
Re: How will this age be remembered?
By our technology or our behavior?
Optimistic Turkish Proverbs With Billy Collins
Optimistic Turkish Proverbs With Billy Collins
A word from the poet on his hopeless optimism.

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Ideas by Billy

Billy Collins on Optimism
A New Kind of War
Global Warming

Global Warming

f we start doing something about climate change now, it'll be a lot different from starting five years from now.

Challenges for Budding Artists

Challenges for Budding Artists

Artists are just people who somehow didnt' allow that natural ability in childhood to be killed off.

Arts and Letters

Arts and Letters

A poet is not terribly unhappy that poetry has a small audience.

The Struggle of Writing

The Struggle of Writing

"When you're not writing, there's an anxiety about whether you will ever write again," says Collins.

Related Ideas

The Chinese Diaspora
The Chinese Diaspora
The diaspora is more wedded to Chinese culture than China is.
Melissa Chiu On The Nexus of Chinese Industry and Art
Melissa Chiu On The Nexus of Chinese Industry and Art
Chiu, on the contemporary art scene in China.

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Poet; Former U.S. Poet Laureate

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