Josephine Balmer is a poet and translator whose books include Chasing Catullus (2004), Sappho: Poems and Fragments (1992), Classical Women Poets (1996) and Catullus: Poems of Love and Hate (2004). Her journalism has appeared in the Observer, the Independent on Sunday, the Times, the Times Literary Supplement and the New Statesman, amongst others. She studied Classics at University College, London and has a Ph.D in Literature and Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia. She lives in Sussex and Cornwall.