Robin Hemley, born in New York City, is an American nonfiction and fiction writer.

His father, Cecil Hemley, was co-founder, with Arthur A. Cohen, of Noonday Press.

His mother, Elaine Gottlieb Hemley, published fiction and poetry.

In 2004, he began teaching at the University of Iowa where he was hired as the Director of the Nonfiction Writing Program, and since 2000 he has taught at Vermont College of Fine Arts, where he served as Faculty Chair for three years.

[8] From 2013 to 2019, he was the Director of the Writing Program, Writer-in-Residence, and Professor of Humanities at Yale-NUS College in Singapore.