Joseph Harrison was born in Richmond, Virginia, grew up in Virginia and Alabama, and took degrees at Yale and Johns Hopkins. He was the author of six previous poetry collections, including Someone Else’s Name (2003), Identity Theft (2008), and Shakespeare’s Horse (2015). Someone Else’s Name was named one of five poetry books of the year by The Washington Post and was a finalist for the Poets’ Prize; Shakespeare’s Horse was also a finalist for the Poets’ Prize. He received a Guggenheim fellowship in poetry and an Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, among other honors. Mr. Harrison directed the Anthony Hecht Poetry Prize from its inception in 2006 until 2023. He edited The Hecht Prize Anthology (2010) and, with Damiano Abeni, Un mondo che non può essere migliore (2008), a selection from the poetry of John Ashbery that won a Special Prize from the Premio Napoli. His Collected Poems will be published by Waywiser in April 2024.

He passed away after a short illness in February 2024.