Bottoms, David

David Bottoms was born in Canton, Georgia, in 1949. He was educated at Mercer University, West Georgia College, and Florida State University, where he received his PhD. His first book, SHOOTING RATS AT THE BIBB COUNTY DUMP, was chosen by Robert Penn Warren for the 1979 Walt Whitman Award from the Academy of American Poets. He has followed this early success with numerous poetry collections as well as two novels. In 2000, Governor Roy Barnes appointed him Georgia Poet Laureate. He currently lives in Atlanta, Georgia, where he continues to teach in the English department at Georgia State University and act as founding co-editor of the literary journal FIVE POINTS.