Born to a mother who loved verse, poet Billy Collins both inherited and was informed by his mother's interest in and love of words. His parents, William and Katherine, were living in New York City when their only child was born in 1941. Katherine gave up her nursing career to stay at home and raise her son.

Collins earned a B.A. in English from the College of the Holy Cross, then went on to receive the M.A. and Ph.D. in the same discipline from University of California, at Riverside. In 1975 he co-counded The Mid Atlantic Review with Michael Shannon.

Collins has led an active academic career, currently recognized as a distinguished professor of English at Lehman College, in Bronx, New York. He has taught there for more than thirty years, as well as been instrumental in founding the CUNY Institute for Irish-American Studies. He expanded his teaching career to serve as a visiting writer at Sarah Lawrence College, and by conducting numerous workshops across the United States, as well as in Ireland.

He is a faculty member at SUNY's Stonybrook Southampton College. He was named national Poet Laureate in 2001, fulfilling that role until 2003. The next year, 2004, he was named Poet Laureate for the State of New York, and retained that position until 2006. He also was named Senior Distinguished Fellow at the Winter Park Institute, which is affiliated with Rollins College, in Florida. He contributes work to The Alaska Quarterly Review, as well.

Regarded by some as America's most popular poet, his powerful poem, "The Names," was read by the author to a special joint session of the United States Congress on September 6, 2002, in memory of those lost during the 9-11 attacks in 2001. While it is traditional in Great Britain for Poet Laureates to write occasional pieces, it is not the case in the United States. However, considering the great magnitude of the aforementioned, tragic events,  the Librarian of Congress requested that Collins write a poem to honor the event. Collins has stated that he will not read "The Names" in public, nor will he publish it.

During his tenure as national Poet Laureate, he organized the program, Poetry 180 for high schools. The title refers to the number of school days required by United States law each year. Collins chose the poems, one to be read each day of the school year. The program is free and accessible online. Collins has also recorded poems for various collections, as well as releasing "Billy Collins Live: A Performance at the Peter Norton Symphony Space," where he was introduced by his friend, the actor Bill Murray. As his work entered the arena of mainstream, he received a three-book contract from Random House. The six-figure sum stunned the publishing world, as such an advance is practically unheard of in the world of published poetry. Collins is the recipient of a number of poetry prizes, including "Poet of the Year" by Poetry Magazine, the Mark Twain Prize for Humor in Poetry, and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York Foundation for the ARts, and the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation.