Robert Pinsky

Robert Pinsky is an award-winning poet, scholar, and translator who served as Poet Laureate of the United States 1997-2000. A member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Pinsky is an active ambassador for poetry, through his weekly “Poet’s Choice” column in the Washington Post, regular appearances on The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, the national Favorite Poem Project, and through his position as poetry editor for the on-line magazine Slate. Pinsky’s translations include the best-selling The Inferno of Dante and The Separate Notebooks by Czeslaw Milosz.

Pinsky’s recent publications include The Life of David, a prose retelling of biblical and legendary tales, and First Things to Hand, a new collection of poetry exploring the meaning of everyday objects.

In addition to his many-faceted career as a writer, Robert Pinsky is a Professor in the graduate writing program at Boston University. His numerous awards include the Ambassador Book Award of the English Speaking Union, the Howard Morton Landon Translation Prize, and the Lenore Marshall Award. His poetry collection The Figured Wheel was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in 1996.