Peter Cooley (born November 19, 1940) is an American poet and Professor of English in the Department of English at

Tulane University Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into a comprehensive pub ...

. He also directs Tulane's Creative Writing Program. Born in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and t ...

, he holds degrees from

Shimer College Shimer Great Books School (pronounced ) is a Great Books college that is part of North Central College in Naperville, Illinois. Prior to 2017, Shimer was an independent, accredited college on the south side of Chicago, with a history of being ...

, the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

and the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized into 12 co ...

. He is the father of poet Nicole Cooley.

Career

Prior to joining Tulane, Cooley taught at the University of Wisconsin, Green Bay. He was the

Robert Frost Robert Lee Frost (March26, 1874January29, 1963) was an American poet. His work was initially published in England before it was published in the United States. Known for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American collo ...

Fellow at the

Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference The Middlebury Bread Loaf Writers' Conference is an author's conference held every summer at the Bread Loaf Inn, near Bread Loaf Mountain, east of Middlebury, Vermont. Founded in 1926, it has been called by '' The New Yorker'' "the oldest and most ...

in 1981.

Poetry and awards

Cooley has published several books of poetry with the Carnegie Mellon University Press. He received the Inspirational Professor Award in 2001 and the Newcomb Professor of the Year Award in 2003. On August 14, 2015 he was named Louisiana's poet laureate.

Bibliography

Poetry

;Collections * *''The Room Where Summer Ends'' (Pittsburgh: Carnegie Mellon University Press, 1979) *''Nightseasons'' (Pittsburgh: Carnegie Mellon University Press, 1983) *''The Van Gogh Notebook'' (Pittsburgh: Carnegie Mellon University Press, 1987) *''The Astonished Hours'' (Pittsburgh: Carnegie Mellon University Press, 1992) *''Sacred Conversations'' (Pittsburgh: Carnegie Mellon University Press, 1998) *''A Place Made of Starlight'' (Pittsburgh: Carnegie Mellon University Press, 2003) *''Divine Margins'' (Pittsburgh: Carnegie Mellon University Press, 2009) *''Night Bus to the Afterlife'' (Pittsburgh: Carnegie Mellon University Press, 2014) *''World Without Finishing'' (Pittsburgh: Carnegie Mellon University Press, 2018) *''The One Certain Thing'' (Pittsburgh: Carnegie Mellon University Press, 2021) ;List of poems

References

External links

Peter Cooley listing in ''The Literary Encyclopedia''

Peter Cooley’s faculty page
Tulane University *
Peter Cooley author page at ''Virginia Quarterly Review'', with links to poems
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooley, Peter 1940 births Living people American male poets Poets Laureate of Louisiana Shimer College alumni The New Yorker people Tulane University faculty Writers from Detroit