Bruce Bond

Bruce Bond is a poet, editor for American Literary Review, and an English professor at the University of North Texas.

After receiving his BA in English from Pomona College, an MA in English from Claremont Graduate School, and a Masters in Music Performance from the Lamont School of Music, Bruce Bond worked for many years as a classical and jazz guitarist. Then, in 1987, he went on to receive his PhD in English from the University of Denver. Since that time he has taught at the University of Kansas, Wichita State University, Wilfrid Laurier University (in Canada), and most recently at the University of North Texas where he is a Regents Professor of English. His collections of poetry include Choir of the Wells (A tetralogy of new books, Etruscan Press, 2013), The Visible (LSU, 2012), Peal (Etruscan Press, 2009), Blind Rain (Finalist, The Poets' Prize; Finalist, Natalie Ornish Prize, LSU, 2008), Cinder (Finalist, TIL Best Book of Poetry Prize, Etruscan Press, 2003), The Throats of Narcissus (University of Arkansas, 2001), Radiography (Natalie Ornish Prize, BOA Editions, 1997), The Anteroom of Paradise (Colladay Award, QRL, 1991), and Independence Days (R. Gross Award, Woodley Press, 1990). His poetry has appeared in Best American Poetry, The Yale Review, The Georgia Review, Raritan, The New Republic, The Virginia Quarterly, Poetry, and many other journals and anthologies, and he has received numerous honors including the Kesterson Teaching Award (2009) and fellowships from the NEA (2001-2002), Texas Commission on the Arts (1998; only one award given out), the Institute for the Advancement of the Arts (2010; only three awards given out statewide), Bread Loaf Writers' Conference (1993; assisted Donald Justice), Wesleyan Writers' Conference (1996; assisted Henry Taylor), Sewanee Writers' Conference (1994; assisted Anthony Hecht), the MacDowell Foundation (1993), the Yaddo Corporation (1992), Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (1989), and other organizations. His poetry has won the Milton Dorfman Prize (Rome Center, 1991), the Greensboro Review Literary Award (1989), two River Styx International Poetry Prizes (1999, 2003), two Academy of American Poets Prizes (1984, 1986), the Billee Murray Denny Award (1994), a William Matthews Poetry Award (2011), the Cincinnati Poetry Review Award (1991), the Denver Writer's Award (sponsored by Colorado Federation of the Arts, judged by Ray Gonzalez, 1987), the Plainspeak Poetry Prize (1979), the New South Poetry Award (2011), The St. Petersburg Review Poetry Award (2011), and 22 Pushcart Nominations (each year from 1993 to 2011). In 2002, he was inducted into the Texas Institute of Letters.