Billy Collins, Former U.S. Poet Laureate and Distinguished Professor at Lehman College, was honored at the Lehman College Foundation’s 2014 Leadership Awards Dinner – A Celebration of Excellence – on October 29, 2014.

Professor Collins is the author of ten books of poetry, including “Aimless Love: New and Selected Poems,” “Horoscopes for the Dead, Ballistics,” “The Trouble with Poetry and Other Poems,” “Nine Horses,” “Sailing Alone Around the Room,” “Picnic,” “Lightning,” “The Art of Drowning,” “The Apple That Astonished Paris,” and “Questions About Angels,” which was selected by Edward Hirsch for the National Poetry Series. He has edited “Poetry 180: A Turning Back to Poetry,” “180 More: Extraordinary Poems for Every Day,” and “Bright Wings: An Illustrated Anthology of Poems about Birds.” Collins’ poetry has appeared in anthologies, textbooks, and a variety of periodicals including “Poetry,” “The American Scholar,” “Harper’s,” “The Paris Review,” and “The New Yorker.” His work appears regularly in The Best American Poetry and has been translated into a dozen languages. He has received fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts, The National Endowment for the Arts, and the Guggenheim Foundation. In 1992 he was chosen by the New York Public Library to serve as a “Literary Lion.” He is a Distinguished Professor of English at Lehman College (CUNY). He served as United States Poet Laureate (2001-2003) and as New York State Poet (2004-2006).

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