Matthew Rohrer was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and raised in Oklahoma. He earned a B.A. from the University of Michigan, where he won a Hopwood Award for poetry, and a Master of Fine Arts degree in Poetry from the University of Iowa.

His books are A Green Light (Verse Press, 2004), Satellite (2001) and A Hummock in the Malookas (1995), which was selected by Mary Oliver for the 1994 National Poetry Series. With Joshua Beckman, he is co-author of Nice Hat. Thanks. and the audio CD Adventures While Preaching the Gospel of Beauty. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.