DAVID KIRBY, Professor, Ph.D., Johns Hopkins (1969), specializes in nineteenth-century U.S. literature and creative writing (poetry). He has received many honors for his work, including the Brittingham Prize in Poetry and his work appears frequently in the Best American Poetry and Pushcart Prize volumes. He has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and Florida Arts Council. Kirby is the author or co-author of twenty-nine books, including the poetry collections The House on Boulevard St.: New and Selected Poems, The Ha-Ha, The House of Blue Light, and The Travelling Library in addition to a collection of essays, Ultra-Talk: Johnny Cash, The Mafia, Shakespeare, Drum Music, St. Teresa Of Avila and 17 Other Colossal Topics Of Conversation. His verse has appeared in such publications as The Kenyon Review, Southern Review, and Ploughshares. A member of the National Book Critics Circle, Kirby also writes regularly for The New York Times Book Review, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and The Chicago Tribune.

RECENT BOOKS

• The Ha-Ha, poetry, (Louisiana State University Press, 2003).
• What is a Book? (University of Georgia Press, 2002).
• The Traveling Library (Orchises, 2001).
• The House of Blue Light, poetry, (Louisiana State University Press, 2000).
• My Twentieth Century, poetry, (Orchises, 1999).
• Big Leg Music, poetry, (Orchises, 1995).
• Herman Melville, Crossroad/Continuum, 1993.
• Mark Strand and the Poet's Place in Contemporary Culture, U of Missouri Press, 1990.
• Saving the Young Men of Vienna (poetry), U of Wisconsin Press, 1987.
• Writing Poetry, The Writer, Inc., 1989.

HONORS AND AWARDS

• Guggenheim Fellowship, 2003.
• Robert O. Lawton Distinguished Professorship, 2003.
• Grants from Florida Arts Council, 2002, 1996, 1989, 1983.
• Pushcart Prize XXV, 2001.
• Best American Poetry 2001.
• Best American Poetry 2000.
• Teaching Incentive Program Awards, 1999, 1994.
• University Teaching Awards, 1997, 1992.
• College of Arts and Sciences Teaching Award, 1990.
• W. Guy McKenzie Professorship, 1989.
• Brittingham Prize in Poetry, 1987.
• Grant from The National Endowment for the Arts, 1985.