Bobby Byrd—poet, essayist and publisher—grew up in Memphis, Tennessee during the golden age of that city’s music. In 1963 he went to Tucson where he attended the University of Arizona. Since then he has lived in the American Southwest. In 1978 he and his wife—novelist Lee Merrill Byrd—moved to El Paso, Texas with their three children. The city and the border region has become their home.

Bobby Byrd, the recipient of a poetry fellowship from the NEA, a D.H. Lawrence fellowship, and an international fellowship to study in Mexico, is one of the most accessible poets writing today. His work is compassionate, tender & joyful. He is the author of numerous books of poetry including Pomegranates, Get Some Fuses for the House, On the Transmigration of Souls in El Paso, The Price of Doing Business in Mexico, and his most recent, White Panties, Dead Friends & Other Bits & Pieces of Love.

He and Lee are publishers and owners of Cinco Puntos Press. In 2005 they received the Lannan Fellowship for Cultural Freedom. Click here to read about the Lannan Foundation award!

Take a look at Bobby Byrd's blog!

• Want to hear Bobby recite some of his poetry? Check out Bobby Byrd's myspace page created for the CD he did with Jim Ward entitled How Will We Know When We're Dead.
• Poetry by Bobby Byrd at The Santa Fe Poetry Broadside website.
• Bobby Byrd's poetry and On the Transmigration of Souls in El Paso in particular are reviewed on the Ron Silliman blog.
• You can find fine collectible chapbooks and postcards with Bobby Byrd's poetry at www.longhousepoetry.com.
• Read an essay Bobby wrote for Luis Jimenez when he passed away, published by the Texas Observer.

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