Gregory Orr grew up in the Hudson Valley, where traumatic childhood incidents forged writing as an act of survival. The author of nine collections of poetry, he is a master of short, lyric free verse. He wrote the memoir The Blessing and three books of essays, including Poetry as Survival. A professor of English at the University of Virginia since 1975, Orr lives in Charlottesville with his wife and daughters.

Photograph by Trisha Orr.