ALBERTO BERTONI: Research scholar, metricologist, poet, born in Modena in 1955, and currently living there. Collaborator of Enrico Trebbi in some plaquettes of verses. He is among the founding editors of the poetry journal Gli immediati dintorni which has had a brief but intense existence, and is currently among the editors of the literary journal Frontiera. He directs the series of contemporary poetry "Fuoricasa" for the Bolognese publisher Book Editore. His poetry collections include: Crinali (1989) and Lettere stagionali (Bologna: Book Editore, 1996).

VITANIELLO BONITO: Scholar of baroque culture and of contemporary poetry, poet. Born in Foggia in 1963, he lives in Bologna. His poems have appeared in collective works, including Poesia contemporanea: Quinto quaderno italiano (1996), and in several journals, including Poesia and Hortus. He has published the poetry volume A distanza di neve (Bologna: Book Editore, 1997).

GIANCARLO SISSA: Specialist in French literature, translator, poet. Born in Mantova in 1961, he lives in Bologna. He has published short stories and poems in several journals, including I Quaderni del Battello ebbro and Linea d'ombra. His work appears in various anthologies, including I colori delle parole (1993) and Con un sorriso indenne (1996). He has published the book of poetry Laureola (Bologna: Book Editore, 1997).

ANTONIO PORTA [LEO PAOLAZZI] (1935-1989): Poet, editor, newspaper and magazine writer, essayist, translator, narrator, playwright. Porta was on the editorial board of Il Verri, as well as of other literary journals, in which he played a foundational role, such as Malebolge, Quindici, Tabula, Alfabeta, La gola. He edited, among other books, the anthology Poesia degli anni Settanta (Milano: Feltrinelli, 1979); was a participant in several meetings of the "Gruppo 63"; won the "Premio Viareggio" (1984) and other literary prizes; was visiting professor at Yale and at some Italian universities.
His published collections of poetry include: Calendario (Milano: Schwartz, 1956), La palpebra rovesciata (Milano: Azimuth, 1960), Zero: Poesie visive (Milano: Azimuth, 1963), Aprire (Milano: Scheiwiller, 1964), I rapporti: Poesie 1958-1964 [inclusive of La palpebra rovesciata and Aprire] (Milano: Feltrinelli, 1966), Cara (Milano: Feltrinelli, 1969), Metropolis (Milano: Feltrinelli, 1971), Week-end (Roma: Cooperativa Scrittori, 1974), Quanto ho da dirvi: Poesie 1958-1975 [inclusive of I rapporti, Cara, Metropolis, Week-end] (Milano: Feltrinelli, 1977), Passi passaggi (Milano: Mondadori, 1980), L'aria della fine (Catania: Lunarionuovo, 1982), Emilio: Poemetto per bambini (Milano: Emme Edizioni, 1982), Invasioni (Milano: Mondadori, 1984), Nel fare poesia [a self-anthology with self-commentaries] (Firenze: Sansoni, 1985), Melusina: Una ballata e un diario (Milano: Crocetti, 1987), Il giardiniere contro il becchino (Milano: Mondadori, 1988). Antonio Porta's widow, Rosemary Ann Liedl, "sent[e] forte il bisogno di far parlare di nuovo Antonio Porta," and to this end is taking care of his papers.

MARIO RAMOUS: Docente di estetica presso l'università di Urbino, ha pubblicato la silloge Interferenze (Milano: Garzanti, 1988), che raccoglie la maggior parte delle raccolte pubblicate in precedenza, quindi Ricercari a discanto (Milano: Garzanti, 1992) e Per via di sguardo (Venezia: Marsilio, 1996).

LUCIANO ERBA: Poet, translator, university professor of French literature, editor of numerous anthologies, born in Milan in 1922, and currently living there. He is the Honorary President of the Italian Poetry Society of America. The original poems translated here are published in: Luciano Erba, L'ippopotamo. (Torino: Einaudi, 1989). Luciano Erba's latest work is the forthcoming book of English versions by several translators of a selection of his poems, with facing Italian text.

ALBERTO BERTONI has published a poetry CD, La casa azzurra (Faenza: Mobydick, 1997), in collaboration with another Modenese poet, Enrico Trebbi.

ALBERTO BIANCHI is currently Lecturer in the Department of Italian of Rutgers University. He contributes to several journals, including Galleria, Il Lettore di provincia, and Pelagos. He is working on a book on Cesare Pavese.

VITANIELLO BONITO's latest book of literary criticism is Il gelo e lo sguardo. La poesia di Cosimo Ortesta e Valerio Magrelli (Bologna: CLUEB, 1996).

JULIA BUDENZ has been writing a long poem in five books, The Gardens of Flora Baum, since 1970. After the publication of the conclusion of Book Two (From The Gardens of Flora Baum, Middletown: Wesleyan University Press, 1984), she has been working on Book Three, "Rome." GIUSEPPE CONTE, poet, novelist, and essayist, is the founder of the Mitomodernismo movement. His book of poetry L'Oceano e il ragazzo (Milano: Rizzoli, 1983), was recently translated by Laura Stortoni (The Ocean and the Boy. Introduction by Italo Calvino. Berkeley, CA: Hesperia Press, 1997).

ROSITA COPIOLI intertwines her writing as poet and essayist: her recent collection of poems Elena (Parma: Guanda, 1996) was preceded by prose writings gathered in I giardini dei popoli sotto le onde (Parma: Guanda, 1991) and Il fuoco dell'Eden (Siracusa: Tema Celeste, 1992).

ALFREDO DE PALCHI, poet and critic, is Senior Editor of Chelsea. In April 1998 he will be honored as a poet by his native town of Legnago (Verona), where he will read from his prose and poetry.

LUIGI FONTANELLA, poet, narrator, literary critic, newspaper correspondent, cultural organizer, is the editor of the international journal of Italian literature Gradiva and Director of IPSA: Italian Poetry Society of America. His most recent book is Storia di Bontempelli: Tra i sofismi della ragione e le irruzioni dell'immaginazione (Ravenna: Longo Editore, 1997).

TOMASO KEMENY, poet and critic, is a professor of English literature at the University of Pavia. Among his many critical works we note here La dicibilità del sublime (Udine: Campanotto, 1990).

VIVIAN LAMARQUE is the author of several volumes of poetry, a translator of French poets, and a fairy tale writer. She lives and works in Milan.

ERNESTO LIVORNI, poet and literary critic, is the editor of L'ANELLO che non tiene: Journal of Modern Italian Literature. A book on Avanguardia e tradizione: Ezra Pound e Giuseppe Ungaretti and the book of poems Nel libro che ti diedi. Sonetti are forthcoming.

JOSEPH LUZZI is a graduate student in the Italian Department at Yale University. He is currently working on his dissertation: "Heirs of a Dark Wood: Literary History and Individuality in Dante and the Romantics." His short story, "The Minstrel of New York," is forthcoming in VIA: Voices in Italian Americana.

MARIO MORONI is a poet and a literary critic: his monographic work on Antonio Porta (Essere e fare. L'itinerario poetico di Antonio Porta, Rimini: Luisè Editore, 1991) shortly preceded his book of poems, Paesaggi oltre (Verona: Edizioni Anterem, 1991), which received the "L. Montano" Poetry Award. His new collection of poems, Le terre di Icaro, is forthcoming.

MATTIA ODESCALCHI works in a law firm in London.

ROBERT PINSKY is the United States Poet Laureate. His most recent book of poems is The Figured Wheel: New and Old Collected Poems, 1966-1996 (New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1996).

MARIO RAMOUS has just completed his long poem Il gran parlare.

AMELIA ROSSELLI's poems have been posthumously collected in Le poesie (Milano: Garzanti, 1997), a volume which does not include the poems published in Sleep: Poesie in inglese (Milano: Garzanti, 1992) with original texts in English by Rosselli and facing Italian translations (by Emmanuela Tandello).

ENRICA SALVANESCHI is a comparatist teaching at the University of Genova and working at the juncture between the classics and modernity. She has published books of poetry, of prose, and books combining prose and poetry likeCatalogo e metamorfosi (Udine: Campanotto, 1996). Her long "poemetto," Psicomachia, is forthcoming.

GIANCARLO SISSA has just published a book of poetry, Prima della TAC e altre poesie (Milano: Marcos y Marcos, 1998). ANN SNODGRASS is a former Fullbright Fellow at the University of Rome and a former Post-doctoral Fellow at Harvard. She has received awards for her translations from the PEN American Center and the Massachussetts Arts Lottery. Her publications have appeared in the New Republic, Partisan Review, and Paris Review.

PAOLO VALESIO is Associate Director of IPSA: Italian Poetry Society of America. The latest performance of his dramatic poem in nine scenes, Figlio dell'Uomo a Corcovado, took place in Nocera Inferiore (Salerno), in November 1997. Valesio's latest book, Dialogo coi volanti (Napoli: Edizioni Cronopio, 1997), is "an essay in narrative thought."