Parldo was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1968. He grew up in Willingboro, New Jersey. Gregory Pardlo received his B.A. in English from Rutgers University. In 2001, he earned his M.F.A. from New York University. He was the New York Times Fellow in Poetry. He has received other fellowships. He is a fellow at the New York Foundation for the Arts, the Cave Canem Foundation, the MacDowell Artist's Colony, the Seaside Institute. Also, the Lotos Club Foundation, and City University of New York. He received a translation grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. He is a Teaching Fellow at Columbia University.