William James "Billy" Collins
- Born:
- March 22, 1941, New York City, New York, USA
- Nationality:
- American
- Profession(s):
- Poet, Professor
Early Life and Education
- Born to William and Katherine Collins.
- Attended Archbishop Stepinac High School.
- Bachelor of Arts degree in English from College of the Holy Cross (1963).
- Master of Arts (1965) and Ph.D. (1968) in English Literature from the University of California, Riverside.
Career and Major Achievements
- Distinguished Professor of English at Lehman College of the City University of New York.
- United States Poet Laureate from 2001 to 2003.
- New York State Poet Laureate from 2004 to 2006.
- Inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
- Served as a Visiting Professor at Sarah Lawrence College.
Notable Works
- Pokerface (1977)
- The Apple That Astonished Paris (1988)
- Questions About Angels (1991)
- Picnic, Lightning (1998)
- Nine Horses (2002)
- The Trouble with Poetry (2005)
- Ballistics (2008)
- Horoscopes for the Dead (2011)
- Aimless Love: New and Selected Poems (2013)
- The Rain in Portugal (2016)
- Whale Day: And Other Poems (2020)
Legacy and Impact
William James "Billy" Collins, known as poet billy collins and biography writer, is widely recognized for his accessible and often humorous poetry, which has broadened the appeal of the genre to a wider audience. His work has been instrumental in making poetry more accessible to the general public, and his laureateships solidified his position as a significant voice in contemporary American literature.