Martin Rock is the author of Residuum, editor’s choice for the Cleveland State University Poetry Center’s First Book Prize, and the chapbooks Dear Mark (Brooklyn Arts Press) and Fish, You Bird (Pilot Books, co-written with Philip D. Ischy). He is also the recipient of the Donald Barthelme Prize in Poetry and was recognized for editorial excellence by the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses (CLMP). With Kevin Prufer and Martha Collins, he co-edited the critical volume Catherine Breese Davis: On the Life and Work of an American Master.

Martin teaches writing and climate justice at the University of California San Diego, and, with poet Kevin Prufer, co-directs The Unsung Masters Series, a literary organization that publishes one volume from a great but little known writer each year. Connected to this work of literary archeology, Martin is co-editing an anthology titled Other Legacies: Great Unsung Poets of the 20th Century (forthcoming 2026, Wesleyan University Press | edited by Adrienne Perry, Kevin Prufer, & Martin Rock).

Martin’s writing has been published in Best American Experimental Writing 2018, Best New Poets 2012, and Academy of American Poets’ Poem-a-Day, in addition to appearing widely in literary journals such as AGNI, Colorado Review, Black Warrior Review, Copper Nickel, DIAGRAM, Conduit, and elsewhere. His translations from Japanese have appeared in Asymptote. As a literary editor and publisher, Martin has served at several respected literary journals, including as editor in chief of Washington Square Review, and as managing editor at Gulf Coast, a journal of literature and fine art and Epiphany, a Literary Journal.

With an MFA in poetry from New York University and a PhD in literature and creative writing from the University of Houston, Martin’s academic focus is on the history of literary criticism, environmental theory, creative writing pedagogy, and ecopoetics. He has received academic and writing fellowships from NYU, The University of Houston, The Starworks Foundation, InPrint Houston, the Port Townsend Writing Conference, and the Periwinkle Foundation. He has taught as an adjunct professor at New York University, University of Houston, Berkeley College in New York, and California College of the Arts. He has taught creative writing at the Jackson Hole Writers Conference, WITS Creative Writing Camp, and the Drew School Writers Festival.

In addition to his work as an academic, Martin has worked as a communications and creative consultant at Google, Salesforce, and San Francisco’s Exploratorium. He continues to consult with startups, nonprofits, and technology companies—particularly those working to decarbonize our energy systems and advance sustainable business practices.