Born in Bukovina (now part of Romania) Celan saw his father and mother die because of the Nazi take over of their country and their imprisonment in camps. He spent most of his life in Paris writing in German before committing suicide.
Pierre Joris is a Professor of English at SUNY, Albany and an acclaimed translator and editor. as well as the author of many books of poetry. He is coeditor of UC Press's highly successful first two volumes in the Poems for the Millennium series. Habib Tengour is a poet, editor, translator, anthropologist, and novelist. He is editor of Œuvres poeacute;tiques complegrave;tes de Mohammed Dib.