Leonard Orr is originally from New York, studying English at SUNY-Binghamton and Ohio State University, receiving his doctorate in 1983. He taught in Arkansas and Indiana before moving in 1991 to Washington State University (he is a full professor in the English Department and Director of Liberal Arts Programs).
He has written or edited many books of criticism including A Dictionary of Critical Theory, A Joseph Conrad Companion, Critical Essays on Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Problems and Poetics of the Nonaristotelian Novel and, most recently, Don DeLillo’s White Noise: A Reader’s Guide (Continuum, 2003). He has been active in recent years as a poet, giving readings, leading workshops, and serving as president of the Washington Poets Association. He has had poems published in such journals as Black Warrior Review, Poetry International, Poetry East, Rosebud, Crab Creek Review, Writing on the Edge, Pontoon, Tundra, and Rocky Mountain Review.