Elizabeth Willis Biography

Elizabeth Willis was born in Bahrain and raised in the Midwest. She earned her BA from University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire and her PhD from the Poetics Program at University of Buffalo. She is the author of six collections of poetry, most recently Alive: New and Selected Poems (New York Review Books, 2015), finalist for the Pulitzer Prize; and Address (Wesleyan University Press, 2011), winner of the PEN New England/LL Winship Prize. Reviewing Alive for The Rumpus, Patrick James Dunagan remarked, “Willis expertly handles the particular moment in time and space of the poem’s encounter, presenting sculpted instance(s) of momentary recognition full of significant impact, charging the language with multi-layered depth.” She edited Lorine Niedecker and the Poetics of Place (2008). Her honors include a Guggenheim fellowship, a Howard Foundation fellowship, and a MacDowell Colony residency. She has taught at Brown University, Mills College, the University of Denver, and Wesleyan University, and she is currently teaches at the Iowa Writers Workshop. She lives in Iowa City.