Books:
The Muse in the Machine: Essays on Poetry and the Anatomy of the Body Politic, University of Georgia Press, 2006
The Infinity Sessions, poems, Louisiana State University Press 2006
Bluegrass Wasteland: Selected Poems, Arc Publications 2006
Translation of Light, poems, Cedar Creek Press, 1976 (limited edition).
Useless Virtues, poems, Louisiana State University Press, 2001
Walt Whitman in Hell, poems, Louisiana State University Press, 1996
The 18,000-Ton Olympic Dream, poems, William Morrow, 1991
Lower-Class Heresy, poems, University of Illinois Press, 1987
The Passion of the Right-Angled Man, poems, University of Illinois Press, 1984.
The Angelic Orders, Louisiana State University Press, 1981
Books Edited
Best of New England Review (ed. with Devon Jersild, et. al) University Press of New England, 1994.
The Imagination as Glory: Essays on the Poetry of James Dickey (ed. with Bruce Weigl),
U. of Illinois Press, 1984.
Poems, Stories, Essays in Journals
Work has appeared in many journals, including The Atlantic Monthly, Slate, The New Yorker, The Gettysburg Review, The Southern Review, Poets & Writers, Ploughshares, The Hudson Review, The Paris Review, Commonweal, Parnassus, etc.
Education
Ph.D, University of Utah; M.A. and B.A., University of Southern Mississippi
Areas of Academic Expertise
Creative Writing, Poetry, Contemporary Literature, 19th & 20th Century American Literature
Employment/Professional Experience
Teaching: University of Southern Mississippi (teaching fellow); University of Utah (teaching fellow); Oklahoma State University (assistant professor), Kenyon College (asst. professor, associate professor); Middlebury College (associate professor, director of creative writing); University of Oregon (full professor, Director of the Program in Creative Writing); Virginis Commonwealth University (full professor, Senior Poet); University of Georgia (full professor as of July 1, 2001); Arizona State University, (full professor currently)
Editing: editor-in-chief, Georgia Review, 2001-present; editor-in-chief, New England Review, 1989-1993; editor-in-chief The Kenyon Review, 1987-1989; poetry editor Cimarron Review, 1980-1984; editor Quarterly West, 1979-1980.
Awards
Phi Kappa Phi Love of Learning Award, 2003
Richard Wright Medal for Literary Excellence, 2003
Finalist (one of 5), Phi Beta Kappa Poetry Prize, 2003
Hanes Poetry Prize (Fellowship of Southern Writers), 1999
Guggenheim Fellowship (poetry), 1993
Pushcart Prize, 1990 & 1992
National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship (poetry), 1987
Musical Experience:
Having begun playing the saxophone in 1959, Hummer worked his way up, and down, through a series of musical associations that included Malaco recording artist Stefan Anderson (of The Anderson Brothers), Bucky Barrett (now a Nashville studio musician), The Skinner Brothers Band of Stillwater, Oklahoma (who were for a time—after Hummer’s departure for higher ground—Garth Brooks’s backup band), Richmond VA’s L’il Ronnie and the Grand Dukes (Young and Evil and Do Whatcha Do), and currently Phoenix AZ’s Billy Cioffi and the Monte Carlos.