Dante Alighieri, one of the supreme poets of world literature, was born in Florence, May 1265, to a noble but not wealthy family. He was a poet of note from his early years and provided service to his commune as ambassador. Political differences led to years of exile before his death near Ravenna in September 1321.
Daniel Anderson received a 1995 fellowship in poetry from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. His first collection of poems, January Rain, won the 1997 Nicholas Roerich prize and was published by Story Line Press.
Mario Benedetti, one of Latin America’s most noted authors, is a poet, novelist, essayist, critic, journalist, dramatist, and songwriter. His works are represented in anthologies published in Latin America, Spain, Israel, England, and the United States. He was a leading opponent of the now defunct military regime in his native Uruguay and now lives in Montevideo and Madrid.
Erin Grace Brooks is a Ph.D. candidate in the creative writing program and a teacher at the University of Houston. She received a 1996 Ruth Lilly poetry fellowship and a 1998 Houston Emerging Artist fellowship.
Alice Fulton‘s most recent book of poems is Sensual Math (W.W. Norton). A collection of essays, Feeling as a Foreign Language: The Good Strangeness of Poetry, is forthcoming from Graywolf Press. She is professor of English at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Photo by Hank De Leo.
Eamon Grennan‘s four books of poetry include Relations: New and Selected Poems (Greywolf). His translations of Leopardi were published by Princeton University Press. He teaches at Vassar College. Photo by Diane Zucker.
Bob Hicok‘s latest book is Plus Shipping (BOA Editions, 1998). The Legend of Light won the 1995 Pollak Prize and was an ALA Booklist notable book of the year.
Conrad Hilberry‘s most recent book is Sorting the Smoke: New and Selected Poems (University of Iowa, 1990). A new collection will be published this year by Louisiana State University Press. Hilberry teaches at Kalamazoo College.
Marilyn Horton-Barrios‘s poems have appeared in Blue Mesa Review, Colorado Review, and elsewhere. A 1989 M.A. graduate of the University of New Mexico creative writing program, she teaches adults to write poetry in the continuing education division of the university.
Philip Levine was born in 1928 in Detroit and was educated at public schools and at Wayne University. After many industrial jobs he left the city and lived in various places before settling in Fresno, California, where he taught at the university until his recent retirement. He has received many awards for his books of poems, most recently the National Book Award in 1991, for What Work Is, and the 1995 Pulitzer Prize for The Simple Truth.
Arnost Lustig‘s awards include a National Book Award nomination for A Prayer of Katerina Horovitzova, two Jewish National Book Awards, an Emmy for a television screenplay, and the Karel Capek Prize of the Czech Pen Club. He teaches literature at the American University in Washington, D.C.
Kai Maristed, whose work first appeared in Germany, now lives in Massachusetts. She is author of two novels, Fall and Out After Dark, and a recent collection of stories, Belong to Me.
Jo McDougall‘s most recent book of poetry is From Darkening Porches, University of Arkansas Press, 1996. She is author of two other books of poetry and two chapbooks and was a 1994 fellow at MacDowell. One of her poems is the subject of a filmscript for a work in progress by independent filmmaker Don Maxwell.
Kim McMullen is an associate professor at Kenyon College where she teaches courses in twentieth-century Irish literature and American literature. She is working on a book entitled Decolonizing Rosaleen, which analyzes the intersection of gender, sexuality, and national identity in contemporary Irish fiction, poetry, and film.
W. S. Merwin‘s most recent books are The Vixen (Knopf, 1996), Flower & Hand (Copper Canyon, 1997), and a book-length poem, The Folding Cliffs (Knopf, 1998). East Window, collected translations from Asian poetry (Copper Canyon), is forthcoming. Photo by Matthew Carlos Schwartz.
Harry Morales‘ work appears in Prospero’s Mirror: A Translator’s Portfolio of Latin American Short Fiction (Curbstone Press, 1998) and in The Oxford Book of Latin American Essays (Oxford, 1997). He has completed a new English translation of Mario Benedetti’s second award-winning novel, La Tregua. Morales lives in Manhattan.
Ewald Osers, a noted translator with many prizes to his credit, was born in Prague and, from the beginning of World War II, has lived in England. He retired from the BBC Monitoring Service in 1971. He has translated more than 120 books and is a frequent speaker on translation at European and American universities.
Gary Pacernick is the author of several poetry volumes and critical texts and edited the letters of David Ignatow. He has also had several plays performed on various stages and for many years edited the poetry magazine Images. He is professor of English at Wright State University.
Jaufre Rudel, dates unknown, wrote in the twelfth century.
Mary Ann Samyn‘s Rooms by the Sea won the 1994 Wick Chapbook Prize and her poems have appeared in Ohio Review, Northwest Review, Laurel Review, Verse, and Nimrod. She was a Hoyns Fellow and M.F.A. graduate of the University of Virginia.
David St. John‘s most recent collection, Study for the World’s Body: New and Selected Poems (HarperCollins, 1994), was nominated for the National Book Award in poetry. Photo by Irene Fertik.
Reetka Vazirani, Margaret Banister writer-in-residence at Sweet Briar College, is a contributing editor of Shenandoah and recipient of a 1998 Poets & Writers exchange award. She lives in Sweet Briar, Virginia. Photo by Glenn Coneau.
Patricia Vigderman‘s essays and reviews have appeared in the Boston Review, Nation, New York Times, Parabola, and other publications. She teaches film and creative writing at Kenyon College.
Miller Williams is author, editor, or translator of twenty-eight books, including twelve volumes of poetry. He has been widely recognized with national and international awards and with two honorary degrees and was inaugural poet for the second inauguration of President Clinton. Recent books of poetry include Living on the Surface: New and Selected Poems (LSU Press), Adjusting to the Light (University of Missouri Press), and Points of Departure and The Ways We Touch (both from University of Illinois Press). Photo by Jimmy Russell.
Kevin Young‘s first book, Most Way Home, won the National Poetry Series and the Zacharis First Book Prize from Ploughshares. Recent poems have appeared in Paris Review and Seneca Review; a selection from his completed manuscript on the late painter Jean-Michel Basquiat appeared in Kenyon Review last spring. An assistant professor at University of Georgia, Young is currently writing a book of essays on race, modernism, and literature.
Nancy Zafris has published stories in The Kenyon Review, Missouri Review, Witness, Gettysburg Review, and many other magazines. Her first book, The People I Know, won a Flannery O’Connor Award for short fiction and an Ohioana Library Association award. She has completed a novel and a new collection of short stories.
