Bruce Weigl

Bruce Weigl was born in Lorain, Ohio, in 1949. He enlisted in the United States Army at age eighteen and served in Vietnam in 1967 and 1968. After returning to the U.S., he received a BA from Oberlin College, an MA from the University of New Hampshire, and a PhD from the University of Utah.

Weigl published his first book of poetry, A Romance (University of Pittsburgh Press, 1979), while teaching at Lorain County Community College. He has gone on to publish more than twenty volumes of poetry, translations, and books of essays. His poetry collections include Apostle of Desire (BOA Editions, Ltd., 2025); The Abundance of Nothing (Triquarterly Books, 2012), which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize; Archaeology of the Circle: New and Selected Poems (Grove Press, 1999); Song of Napalm (Atlantic Monthly Press, 1994); and Sweet Lorain (Triquarterly Books, 1996). His poetry has been translated into Bulgarian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Romanian, Serbian, Spanish, and Vietnamese. 

Much of Weigl’s work is inspired by his experiences of the Vietnam War. In an interview with Blast Furnace Press, he said, “I wouldn’t have been a writer without the war because it forced me to go inward. And for some reason, when I did, I found these stories.” He is also the author of The Circle of Hanh: A Memoir (Grove Press, 2000), an account of his personal struggles after serving in the war.

Weigl’s numerous awards include two Pushcart Prizes, a Paterson Poetry Prize, a Lannan Literary Award for Poetry, the Robert Creeley Award, the Cleveland Arts Prize, the Tu Do Chien Kien Award from the Vietnam Veterans Against the War, and the 2018 “Premiul Tudor Arghezi Prize” from the National Museum of Literature of Romania. He is also the recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, Yaddo, and Breadloaf. 

Weigl has also taught at the University of Arkansas, Old Dominion University, and Pennsylvania State University. He lives in Oberlin, Ohio, and in Ha Noi, Vietnam.