Dr. George Bilgere, Ph.D
Professor
Background
Former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins has called George Bilgere’s work “a welcome breath of fresh, contemporary air in the house of American poetry.” Bilgere has read his poems at the Library of Congress, the 92nd Street Y in New York, the Chautauqua Institute, and the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC. NPR listeners know him from his many appearances on Garrison Keillor’s The Writer’s Almanac and A Prairie Home Companion. He has received grants and awards from the Pushcart Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Fulbright Foundation. He is a recipient of the May Swenson Poetry Award, the Society of Midland Authors Poetry Prize, the Ohioana Poetry Award, and the Cleveland Arts Prize. His work received the Editor’s Choice Award from the New Ohio Review in 2022, and in 2023 he won the Reader’s Choice Award from Rattle. His latest book, Cheap Motels of My Youth, won the RattleChapbook Prize in 2023 and appeared in 2024. He is a Distinguished Professor of English at John Carroll University in Cleveland, Ohio, where he lives with his wife and two very fine little boys.
Areas of Expertise
I teach courses in modern and contemporary British and American poetry and fiction.
I also teach courses in Creative Writing, primarily of poetry.
Research Interests
I am primarily a writer of poetry, and while I don't do "research" as a poet, I keep up with the poetry and criticism of 21st century America and Europe.
Education
B.A. in English Literature, University of California, Riverside, 1974.
M.A. in English Literature, Washington University, St. Louis, 1976.
Ph.D. in English Literature, Denver University, 1986.
Courses Taught
While at John Carroll I have taught courses in Creative Writing, Modern and Contemporary British and American poetry and fiction, the poetry of the Beat Generation, and film.Publications
Collections of poetry:
Cheap Motels of My Youth. Rattle Press, 2024.
Central Air. University of Pittsburgh Press.
Blood Pages. University of Pittsburgh Press. Pittsburgh, PA. February, 2018.
Imperial. University of Pittsburgh Press. Pittsburgh, PA. January, 2014.
The White Museum. Autumn House Press. Pittsburgh, PA. January, 2010.
Haywire. Utah State University Press. Logan, Utah. October, 2006.
The Good Kiss. University of Akron Press. Akron, OH. February, 2002.
Big Bang. Copper Beech Press. Providence, RI. January, 1999.
The Going. University of Missouri Press. Jefferson, MI. 1995.
Journal Publications
My poems and essays have appeared in such top-level journals as Poetry Magazine, Ploughshares, Best American Poetry, New Ohio Review, Southern Review, Sewanee Review, Georgia Review, the Pushcart Anthology, Hopkins Quarterly, New England Review, Shenandoah, Tar River Review, Alaska Quarterly, Threepenny Review, Smartish Pace, Boulevard, Kansas Quarterly, Atlanta Review, Cimarron Review, and elsewhere.
