Robert Pinsky
As Poet Laureate of the United States in the year 2000, Robert Pinsky founded the Favorite Poem Project, in which thousands of American readers, of varying backgrounds, ages, and regions, read poems they admire by writers including Emily Dickinson, Pablo Neruda, Langston Hughes, Elizabeth Bishop and Siegfried Sassoon. The videos at favoritepoem.org show the enduring cultural presence of poetry.
Robert Pinsky's most recent book of poems is Proverbs of Limbo. His spoken word PoemJazz album of the same title, with musicians including Laurence Hobgood and Mino Cinelu, is available on Spotify and Apple Music.
He grew up in Long Branch, N.J., an historic seashore resort described in his recent autobiography Jersey Breaks. Other works include the best-selling translation The Inferno of Dante and The Life of David, a prose book about the Biblical figure. His honors include the Korean Manhae Award, the Italian Premio Capri and the Harold Washington Award from the City of Chicago. He has honorary degrees from institutions including Stanford University, The New School, and the University of Michigan. Robert Pinsky is the only member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters to have appeared on The Colbert Report and The Simpsons.