Billy Collins is a Distinguished Professor of English at Lehman College of the City University of New York. He has published eight collections of poetry and his next, entitled "Ballistics," will be published later in 2008.

Click  to hear Billy Collins read his poem "Consolation" | Poetry 180: Collins' website for students

The Highland Park Literary Festival began in 1995 as a collaboration between interested parents and the HPHS English Department. For more than a dozen years, HPHS students have enjoyed meeting, working with, and learning from distinguished authors, including George Plimpton, Doug Wright, Michael Chabon, Kaye Gibbons, Tim O'Brien, Russell Banks, Anchee Min, and Scott Simon.