Born in 1943 in Bridgeport, Connecticut, Bill Zavatsky worked as a pianist from the age of fifteen to twenty-five and studied music at the New School. He holds a bachelor's and a master's degree from Columbia University.

With Zack Rogow, he cotranslated Earthlight: Poems of André Breton (Sun & Moon Press, 1993), which won the PEN/Book-of-the-Month Club Translation Prize. Zavatsky also co-translated The Poems of A.O. Barnabooth, by Valery Larbaud, with Ron Padgett. He is the author of Where X Marks the Spot (Hanging Loose Press, 2006); For Steve Royal and Other Poems (Coalition of Publishers for Employment, 1985); Theories of Rain and Other Poems (1975) and his work has appeared in the anthology Will Work For Peace: New Political Poems (ed. Brett Axel, 1999). He is also the director of SUN, which publishes volumes of poetry and SUN magazine.

Zavatsky has taught workshops for Teachers & Writers Collaborative, Long Island University, and University of Texas-Austin. He lives in New York City and teaches English at the Trinity School.