Tom Healy is a writer and activist. He is the curator of public programs at The Bass in Miami Beach where he hosts a public conversation series on creativity.

Tom is the author of three books of poetry, Velvet, Animal Spirits and What the Right Hand Knows, which was a finalist for the 2009 L.A. Times Book Prize and the Lambda Literary Award. He is also the chair of O, Miami Poetry Festival.

From 2011 through 2014, Healy served as Chairman of the Fulbright Scholarship Board, which oversees the worldwide Fulbright scholars program. Appointed by President Barack Obama, Healy traveled to six continents to promote peace and understanding through the exchange of ideas and culture. In 2014, the Fulbright program won Spain’s prestigious Prince of Asturias Award for International Cooperation. Healy remains on the executive committee of the Fulbright Board.

Healy served on the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS under President Bill Clinton and remains active in global efforts to fight poverty and AIDS. He has also had a distinguished career in the arts, including a pioneering gallery in Manhattan’s Chelsea arts district and a leadership role in rebuilding New York’s downtown arts community after 9/11, for which he received the 2005 New York City Mayor’s Award for Arts and Culture from Michael Bloomberg.

Healy has taught on the faculties of NYU, The Pratt Institute and The New School. He has been a lecturer or writer-in-residence at universities and institutes in Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Italy, Indonesia and Senegal.

Healy is a trustee of PEN America and a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Healy grew up on his family’s small dairy farm in upstate New York. He studied at Harvard and Columbia. He and his partner Fred Hochberg live in Miami and New York City.

Contact

Email: contact@heyday.us
Twitter: @tphealy

Interviews