Robert Eric Shoemaker (he/him) is a poet, translator, and interdisciplinary artist. 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 is “masterfully skilled at conveying the complexities of collective reflection”
– Frazier Museum feature by Shelby Durbin
Eric has won honorable mention in Spoon River Poetry Review’s Editor’s Prize, and his work has been nominated for Best of the Net and Best New Translation. His writing is published or forthcoming with Rain Taxi, Zone 3, Tupelo Quarterly, Spoon River Poetry Review, Jacket2, ANMLY, the Poetry Foundation, Rattle, Asymptote, Exchanges, Signs and Society, Entropy, Call Me [Out], Miracle Monocle, Gender Forum, Columbia Journal, Plath Profiles, the Louisville Review, Transom, Tiny Spoon, Call Me [Stranger], Analogies & Allegories, Bombay Gin, Barely South Review, and others.
Eric 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. Eric has been a featured speaker on PBS’s Remember Them with Steve Adubato as well as the podcasts PoemTalk, Perks of Being a Book Lover, and Business Boss. He has performed and lectured at venues including Speed Art Museum and the Frazier Museum in Louisville, Kentucky; the Fox Theater in Boulder, Colorado; Remy Bumpo Theater; the Chicago Public Library’s Poetry Day; and many others.
Eric’s installations and artwork have been exhibited at East Window gallery and Naropa University, as well as other venues. His award-winning plays, including translations of The House of Bernarda Alba and Barrens by Federico García Lorca, and his musical PLATH/HUGHES,have been produced in Chicago and New York.
