Michael Gessner received his undergraduate degree in English literature from Wayne State University, Detroit; master's and doctoral degrees from the University of Colorado, Boulder; an appointment to the department of English as Andrew Mellon Professor, University of Arizona, and directed the creative writing program at Central Arizona College. He has authored 14 books of poetry, essays and fiction. His work has appeared in the American Journal of Poetry, American Letters & Commentary, American Literary Review, The French Literary Review, Journal of the American Medical Association, North American Review, Oxford Magazine, Rue des Beaux-Arts (Paris,) and others.
Reviews and articles have been published by Allyn & Bacon, C. V. Mosby, Times-Mirror, The Edgar Allan Poe Review, The Kenyon Review and Jacket2. He is a voting member of the National Book Critics Circle. He served as creative writing judge for the National Council of Teachers of English, and for La Roca, Florence State Penitentiary; assisted in establishing creative writing programs for the Navajo in Ganado and Tuba City, and on the White Mountain Apache Reservation.
His work has drawn favorable reviews from: Jonathon Galassi "Structurally ingenious," (Farrar, Straus & Giroux,) Lawrence Joseph, John Dolis, Robert Pinsky, "Lively and smart and musical," Cynthia Hogue, Rebecca Seiferle and others.
He resides in Tucson with his wife, Jane, a watercolorist, and their dog, "Gracie". Christopher, his son, is a screenwriter.