Ely Shipley's first book of poems, which won the 2007 Barrow Street Press book prize judged by Carl Phillips, the 2009 Thom Gunn Award, and was a Lambda Literary Award finalist. He also won the Utah Writer's Award in Poetry from the Western Humanities Review judged by Edward Hirsch and the Virginia Faulkner Award from Prairie Schooner. He was a finalist for the Academy of American Poets' Levis prize judged by Susan Howe in 2007 and for the James Hearst Award from the North American Review judged by Li-Young Lee in 2003.

His writing appears in the Western Humanities Review, Prairie Schooner, Willow Springs, Florida Review, Phoebe, Greensboro Review, Painted Bride Quarterly, Hayden's Ferry Review, Diagram, Barrow Street, Third Coast, Gulf Coast, LTTR and Bloom. He holds a PhD in Literature and Creative Writing from the University of Utah. He taught for many years at Baruch College, CUNY and currently teaches at Western Washington University in Bellingham, WA.