Thomas Townsley grew up in Central Pennsylvania and received his Master's Degree in English and Creative Writing from Syracuse University in 1983. Recent publications include "Reading the Empty Page" and "Night Class for Insomniacs" (Black Rabbit.) A collection of experimental Sapphic verse, "Babel's Rebuilding," is due later in 2020, also from Black Rabbit. Townsley is an English professor at Mohawk Valley Community College in Utica, New York.