
Bob Hicok was born in 1960. His most recent collection, This Clumsy Living (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2007), was awarded the 2008 Bobbitt Prize from the Library of Congress. His other books are Insomnia Diary (Pitt, 2004), Animal Soul (Invisible Cities Press, 2001),a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, Plus Shipping (BOA, 1998), and The Legend of Light (University of Wisconsin, 1995), which received the Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry and was named a 1997 ALA Booklist Notable Book of the Year. A recipient of three Pushcart Prizes, Guggenheim and two NEA Fellowships, his poetry has been selected for inclusion in five volumes of Best American Poetry. Hicok writes poems that value speech and storytelling, that revel in the material offered by pop culture, and that deny categories such as "academic" or "narrative." As Elizabeth Gaffney wrote for the New York Times Book Review: "Each of Mr. Hicok's poems is marked by the exalted moderation of his voice—erudition without pretension, wisdom without pontification, honesty devoid of confessional melodrama... His judicious eye imbues even the dreadful with beauty and meaning." Hicok has worked as an automotive die designer and a computer system administrator, and is currently an Associate Professor of English at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg.
Series
Books

Insomnia Diary
2004

This Clumsy Living
2006

Animal Soul
2001

The Legend of Light (Volume 1995)
1995

Elegy Owed
2013

Red Rover Red Rover
2021

Oranges & Sardines
Fall 2008
2008

Water Look Away
2023

Words for Empty and Words for Full
2010

Poets and Artists (O&S) Self-Portrait Issue
2009

Plus Shipping
1998

Sex & Love &
2016

Ocho #30
2010

Hold
2018