Robert Bensen is the author of seven collections. His most recent, What Lightning Spoke: New & Selected Poems, was published by Bright Hill Press in June 2022. He is Professor Emeritus and former Director of Writing at Hartwick College (1978-2017). His poems, essays, editions, and studies have been widely published and earned awards and fellowships from the NEA, NEH, Newberry Library, NYSCA, Illinois Arts Council, Harvard University, NY State Fair, Eric Hoffer Award, and elsewhere. He is the founding director of Woodland Arts Editions, a small literary press.