Praised by such poets as Stephen Dunn, Stanley Plumly, Tony Hoagland, and Laura Kasischke, over the last quarter of a century George Looney has published nine books of his poetry, winning, along the way, The Bluestem Award, The White Pine Press Poetry Prize, and the Red Mountain Poetry Prize, as well as earning awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, both the Ohio and Pennsylvania Councils on the Arts, and from such journals as The Missouri Review, Zone 3, New Letters, and The Literary Review. He is the author of THE ITINERATE CIRCUSNEW AND SELECTED POEMS 1995-2020 (Red Mountain Press, 2020), THE WORST MAY BE OVER (Elixir Press, 2020), WHAT LIGHT BECOMES: THE TURNER VARIATIONS (Red Mountain Press, 2019), and HYMN OF ASH (Elixir Press, 2008). THE ITINERATE CIRCUS includes selections from each of his books, and nine new poems. He is Distinguished Professor at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, where he founded the BFA in Creative Writing Program for which he received Penn State University's Undergraduate Program Leadership Award in 2007. He serves as Editor of Lake Effect and Translation Editor of Mid-American Review.