Dean Young is the author of seventeen books of poetry and poetic theory. His iconic, comedic style is derived from the New York School of Poetry and from contemporary art movements like Surrealism and Dadaism. In an interview with the University of Arizona Poetry Center, Young said, "For me the human drama, the squishy, time-limited pulse, is always at the center of the poem." His book Elegy on Toy Piano was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, and his work has been celebrated with the Academy Award in Literature and the Colorado Prize for Poetry. Dean Young served as the Texas Poet Laurate and has received multiple fellowships, including the National Endowment of the Arts Fellowship, the Stegner Fellowship, and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship. He currently holds the position of William Livingston Chair of Poetry at the University of Texas, Austin.