Bob Hicok was born in Grand Ledge, Michigan, in 1960. For more than twenty years, he owned an automotive die designing company and also worked as a computer systems analyst. Hicok, a recipient of two fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts as well as a Guggenheim, began writing poems when he was 20. In 2004, following the publication of his first four books, he received an MFA from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. Along with Breathe, Hicok is the author of twelve previous collections, including Animal Soul, This Clumsy Living, Elegy Owed, shortlisted for the 2013 National Book Critics Circle Award, and, most recently, Water Look Away. In 2013, This Clumsy Living was translated into German by Judith Zander and released by Luxbooks. His writing has appeared in journals and magazines including The New Yorker, Poetry Magazine, and The American Poetry Review, and has been anthologized in nine volumes of The Best American Poetry. Currently, Hicok teaches in the MFA program at Virginia Tech University.