Robert Fitterman
Born in St. Louis on June 16, 1959, Robert Fitterman spent his childhood in Creve Coeur, Missouri. He received his BA from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and his MA from Temple University.
Fitterman is the author of sixteen books and fifteen poetry collections, including Creve Coeur (Winter Editions, 2024); Rob’s Word Shop (Ugly Duckling Presse, 2019); No Wait, Yep. Definitely Still Hate Myself (Ugly Duckling Presse, 2014), illustrated by Natalya Lobanova; Now we are friends (Truck Books, 2011); Rob the Plagiarist, (Roof Books, 2009); and The Sun Also Also Rises: A Hemingway Reader (No Press, 2008).
With the poet Vanessa Place, he coauthored Notes On Conceptualisms (Ugly Duckling Presse, 2009), a prose exploration of conceptual writing. He also edited the anthology Collective Task (Patrick Lovelace Editions, 2009), featuring a large-scale collaboration between poets Mónica de la Torre, Stacy Doris, and Juliana Spahr, among others.
About his writing practice, Fitterman says,
Experimental poetry has a long shelf life. Even if the community is small, the conversation could be vital to the future of the art ... Beyond the numbers, what’s crucial is to articulate, foster, and engage in a conversation that speaks to the dialogues of the day (and there may be many).
About Fitterman’s poems, poet Bruce Andrews wrote:
They valorize themselves not so much by vernacular sampling (which is nothing new, even if it still scandalizes the clerisy) as by the rich and risky attentiveness of their prosodic choices. Relation is it.
Fitterman teaches writing and poetry at both New York University and Bard College’s Milton Avery School of Graduate Studies. He lives in New York City.
