Professor Byrne joined the Valparaiso University English faculty in 1984.

What first attracted him to Valparaiso was that the university and the community were almost seamless. According to Professor Byrne: “The classes, students, faculty, and townspeople all seemed to have a common purpose, which was to make Valparaiso—the university and the town—something special.”

Professor Byrne believes his role as a teacher is to make the authors and the readings in literature classes come to life for the students. Even if the events and characters are fictional, he wants students to respond in ways that will make it posible for the content to enrich their own lives. In his creative writing classes, Professor Byrne attempts to establish a constructive community of writers aiding one another in developing compelling and publishable works.

His teaching specialties include twentieth-century poetry and fiction, contemporary poetry and fiction, creative non-fiction, film studies, environmental literature, and creative writing. He particularly admires writer Robert Penn Warren because of his ability to write both poetry and fiction well.

Professor Byrne is the author of six published collections of poetry, most recently Tidal Air (Pecan Grove Press, 2002) and Seeded Light (Turning Point Books, 2010). A seventh book of poems, Tinted Distances, is forthcoming in 2011 from Turning Point Books. In addition, he has edited two anthologies of poetry.

His essays of literary criticism also have been published in various book collections, including Mark Strand (Chelsea House Publishers), edited by Harold Bloom, A Condition of the Spirit: The Life and Work of Larry Levis (Eastern Washington University Press), edited by Christopher Buckley and Alexander Long, “Claudia Emerson: Literary Criticism” in Poetry for Students (Thomson Gale Publishing), edited by Ira Mark Milne, and David Bottoms: Critical Essays and Interviews (McFarland & Co.), edited by William Walsh.

He has had nearly 300 journal and anthology publications of poetry or critical commentary, and he is the editor of Valparaiso Poetry Review. Furthermore, Professor Byrne has published numerous magazine articles or newspaper reviews on subjects concerning film studies and American movies. He writes regular articles on literature and the arts for the VPR editor's blog, One Poet's Notes, and he appears as a weekly blogger for the regional Internet publication, ValpoLife.

An avid NASCAR fan, Professor Byrne includes driving laps around a NASCAR racetrack among his favorite memories. He enjoys spending his weekends watching races, working around the house in the vegetable and flower gardens or on home improvement projects, and writing his next book.

He received his B.A. and M.F.A. in English from the City University of New York: Brooklyn College, and he earned a Ph.D. in English from the University of Utah.

Valparaiso Poetry Review

http://www.valpo.edu/vpr/

Blog

http://edwardbyrne.blogspot.com/

Twitter 

http://twitter.com/valpopoetry 

Website

http://www.valpo.edu/home/faculty/ebyrne/homepage/

Recent Books 

Seeded Light

http://www.turningpointbooks.com/byrne.html

Tidal Air and East of Omaha

http://library.stmarytx.edu/pgpress/authors/edward_byrne/index.html