Paul Modiano is a French writer who was born on July 30, 1945, in Boulogne-Billancourt. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2014 for his lifetime body of work. He previously won the Austrian State Prize for European Literature in 2012 and the Prix mondial Cino Del Duca from the Institut de France for his lifetime achievement in 2010. His other awards include the Prix Goncourt in 1978 for his novel Rue des boutiques obscures and the Grand prix du roman de l'Acad�mie fran�aise in 1972 for Les Boulevards de ceinture. Modiano's works explore the traumas of the Nazi occupation of France and the puzzle of identity. His preoccupation with the theme of identity can be seen throughout many… of his works including his 2005 memoir entitled Un Pedigree. Modiano was greatly influenced by his parents' relationship. His mother and father began their clandestine relationship during occupied France. Growing up, his father was absent for most of his life and his mother was away frequently while on tour acting. He was alone much of the time and went to school because of government aid. His younger brother died of a disease at age 10 and this added to his "lost identity" feelings while growing up. Modiano first came to prominence in France when he wrote the 1968 book La Place de L'�toile. He has published over 30 works which include novels, screenplays and children's books. His other works include: La Ronde de nuit (1969), English translation: Night Rounds; Rue des boutiques obscures (1978), English translation: Missing Person; and Quartier Perdu (1984), English translation: A Trace of Malice. Although he is well known in France, only about 12 of his works have been translated into English.
Daniel Weissbort was born in London, England on April 30, 1935. He studied history at Queens' College, Cambridge. After briefly working in his father's clothing factory, he took up research work in poetry in post-Stalinist Russia. He was the founder with Ted Hughes of Modern Poetry in Translation (MPT), a magazine that publishes the best of world poetry in translation, in 1965. Weissbort edited MPT until 2004. He worked as a professor of English and comparative literature and leader of a translation workshop at the University of Iowa. He edited numerous anthologies including An Anthology of Contemporary Russian Women Poets and was the author of collections of poetry including Letters to… Ted. He died on November 18, 2013 at the age of 78.