Russell Thorburn was born in Birmingham, Michigan. Such journals as Third Coast, Aethlon: The Journal of Sport Literature, and The Quarterly have published his work. He has been awarded grants from the National Endowment for the Arts (1998), the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs, ArtServe, and PEN/American. He has taught poetry to prison inmates, and worked with emotionally impaired students. He currently lives in Marquette, Michigan, where he's raising three sons.