A U.S. POET LAUREATE IN CONVERSATION: BILLY COLLINS

BILLY COLLINS is a former poet laureate of the United States. He is the author of 12 poetry collections, including the bestsellers Aimless Love: New and Selected Poems (Random House), The Trouble with Poetry and Other Poems (Random House), and Sailing Alone Around the Room: New and Selected Poems (Random House). He is also the editor of Poetry 180: A Turning Back to Poetry (Random House), 180 More: Extraordinary Poems for Every Day (Random House), and Bright Wings: An Illustrated Anthology of Poems About Birds (Columbia University Press). A former distinguished professor at Lehman College of the City University of New York, Collins also served as the New York State poet. He was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2016. He lives in Florida with his wife, Suzannah.

ROBERT CASPER is the head of poetry and literature at the Library of Congress. He previously worked at the Poetry Society of America and the Community of Literary Magazines and Presses, and served as the poetry chair of the Brooklyn Literary Council. He lives in Brooklyn, New York, and Washington, D.C.