He was raised in western Pennsylvania and after an adult life spent mostly in the SF Bay Area and the Northwest, he divides his time between Raleigh, NC and Richmond, CA.

[1][3] He has worked as a telephone installation foreman and commercial fisherman and in 1997 gave up this blue collar life to try his hand at teaching.

[5] He now teaches in the MFA in Writing Program at Pacific University and the Esalen Institute.

He is married to poet Dorianne Laux; they divide their time between Raleigh, North Carolina and Richmond, CA.

In 2002, Millar was awarded a Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, and in 2008 his work won a Pushcart Prize.