Robert Pinsky

Robert Pinsky is the William Fairfield Warren Distinguished Professor of English and Creative Writing at Boston University. He is the author of 19 books, most recently his Selected Poems and the anthology Singing School: Learning to Write (and Read) Poetry by Studying with the Masters.

Pinsky’s translation of The Inferno of Dante Alighieri received the Los Angeles Times Book Award in poetry. His volume of poetry, The Figured Wheel: New and Collected Poems 1966-1996 was a Pulitzer Prize nominee and received the Lenore Marshall Award. As Poet Laureate of the United States (1997-2000), Pinsky founded the Favorite Poem Project, in which thousands of Americans—of varying backgrounds, all ages, and from every state—shared their favorite poems. He is the only member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters to have appeared on both The Simpsons and The Colbert Report.