A 2003 winner of the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction (Sorry I Worried You), Gary Fincke has published sixteen books of poetry and short fiction, most recently Standing Around the Heart, a collection which “shows Gary Fincke at his inimitable best.” His nonfiction account of his son's life as a rock guitarist, Amp'd: A Father’s Backstage Pass, was published by Michigan State in 2004.

In 2002, Fincke completed Writing Letters For the Blind, which won the 2003 Ohio State University Press/The Journal poetry prize, and The Stone Child, a collection of short stories that earned Fincke praise as “one of literary America’s best-kept secrets.”

Winner of the Bess Hokin Prize from Poetry magazine and the Rose Lefcowitz Prize from Poet Lore, Gary Fincke has also received a PEN Syndicated Fiction Prize as well as seven fellowships for creative writing from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. His poems, stories, and essays have appeared in Harper's, Newsday, The Paris Review, The Kenyon Review, The Georgia Review, American Scholar, and Doubletake. Twice awarded Pushcart Prizes for his work, Fincke recently had his prize-winning essay "The Canals of Mars" reprinted in The Pushcart Essays, an anthology of the best nonfiction printed during the first twenty-five years of Pushcart Prize volumes. His story "The Blazer Sestina" won the 2003 George Garrett Fiction Prize.

Gary Fincke also writes a bi-weekly newspaper column distributed by Scripps-Howard. Recent columns have been reprinted in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Cleveland Plain-Dealer, The Sacramento Bee, and dozens of other newspapers throughout the United States and Canada.

Gary Fincke is director of the Writers Institute and a professor of English and creative writing at Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania. Specializing in creative writing, he teaches introductory and advanced workshops in poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction while overseeing independent writing projects, practica, and internships for writing majors. He was also head coach of the Susquehanna University men’s tennis team from 1981 to 2001, compiling over 145 career wins and five league championships.

Gary Fincke lives with his wife Elizabeth in Selinsgrove. Two of his children, Derek (advertising writer) and Shannon (artist and teacher), graduated from Susquehanna University. His third, Aaron, plays guitar in the band Breaking Benjamin.