Robert Eric Shoemaker (he/him) is a poet and interdisciplinary artist whose work explores magical poetics, translation, and queer identity.
He is the author of three books: Ca’Venezia (Partial Press 2021), an artist’s book of hybrid writing and visual art; We Knew No Mortality (Acta Publications 2018), poetry and memoir; and the poetry chapbook 30 Days Dry (Thought Collection Publishing 2015).
Eric has published work in Zone 3, Signs and Society, Jacket2, Entropy, Miracle Monocle, Gender Forum, ANMLY, Rattle, Asymptote, Exchanges, Columbia Journal, Plath Profiles, the Louisville Review, Tiny Spoon, Call Me [Brackets], Analogies & Allegories, Verde Qué Te Quiero Verde, Bombay Gin, Barely South Review, and other journals.
His award-winning plays, including PLATH/HUGHES; Lead Me Into Dark; Phaedra, Released; and The House of Bernarda Alba and Barrens, which are translations of works by Federico García Lorca, have been produced in Chicago and New York.
Eric is the digital archive editor at the Poetry Foundation. He earned a PhD in humanities from the University of Louisville, an MFA in creative writing and poetics from Naropa University, and a BA in theatre and performance studies from the University of Chicago.