Bill Meissner

Minnesota author and teacher Bill Meissner has published five collections of poetry, including The Mapmaker’s Dream (Finishing Line Press, 2019), American Compass (University of Notre Dame Press, 2004), Twin Sons of Different Mirrors (Milkweed Editions, 1993), Learning to Breathe Underwater, and The Sleepwalker’s Son (Ohio University Press, 1979). He is the author of a novel Spirits in the Grass (University of Notre Dame Press, 2008), which won the Midwest Book Award. His two books of short stories are Hitting into the Wind (Random House Publishers/SMU Press/Dzanc Press) and The Road to Cosmos (University of Notre Dame Press).

Meissner frequently presents workshops at local elementary schools, high schools, and colleges as a visiting writer. He has been resident poet for two years at The Loft's Wordplay Festival.