Bill Berkson was born in New York in 1939.  He is a poet, critic, teacher and sometime curator, who has been active in the art and literary worlds since his early twenties.

He is the author of sixteen books and pamphlets of poetry -- including, most recently, Gloria, a portfolio of poems with etchings by Alex Katz (Arion Press, 2005), Our Friends Will Pass Among You Silently, poems from 2001-2006 with cover image by Vija Clemins (The Owl Press, 2007), Sudden Address: Selected Lectures 1981-2006 with cover image by Philip Guston (Cuneiform Press, 2007), and in collaboration with Bernadette Mayer, What's Your Idea of a Good Time?, Letters & Interviews 1977-1985 (Tuumba Press, 2006).  His poems have also appeared in many magazines and anthologies. He is also a Corresponding Editor for Art in America and a regular contributor to Artforum, Modern Painters, Art on Paper, American Craft and other magazines. From 1971-78, he was editor-publisher of Big Sky magazine and books.

Berkson was awarded a creative writing fellowship in poetry from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1980 and has also received awards and fellowships from Yaddo, Artspace, the Poets Foundation, the Fund for Poetry, and Briarcombe Foundation.  He was appointed Distinguished Paul Mellon Lecturer for 2006 at Skowhegan School of Art. He lives in San Francisco.