Jean-Paul Kauffmann was born in 1944. Working as a journalist in Lebanon, he was kidnapped in May 1983 and was not released until May 1988. He is the author of Voyage to Desolation Island and The Dark Room at Longwood, which was awarded seven literary prizes in France. Patricia Clancy's translation won the Scott-Moncrieff Prize for 2000.
DEWEY MARKHAM, Jr., created the wine studies program for the famed LaVarenne cooking school in Paris and was formerly Associate Director of the Swiss Wine Information Council. He teaches courses at the Culinary Institute of America and is currently researching a major work on Bordeaux.