BRUNELLA ANTOMARINI teaches the philosophy of art at John Cabot University in Rome. The founding editor of the philosophy series Montag, she is also the co-editor of the philosophy journal Il Cannocchiale. Her book of short fiction, Chi abita nel bosco (Barcelona, 1994), has been translated into English and Spanish.

GEOFFREY BROCK received the 1998 Raiziss/de Palchi Fellowship for his translations of Cesare Pavese, which appear in journals such as New Republic, TriQuarterly, New England Review, and Five Points; a volume is forthcoming from Copper Canyon. His own poems appear in Poetry, Paris Review, Hudson Review, and Southern Review, as well as several anthologies.

FRANCO BUFFONI's latest book of poetry is Theios (Novara: Interlinea, 2001).

PINO CORBO (Cosenza, 1958), is a poet and literary critic. His volumes of poetry include: Cerco nel vento (Brindisi: Schena, Fasano, 1978), Il segreto del fuoco (Firenze: Hellas 1984), In canto (Udine: Campanotto, 1995); Autodafe' (Milano: En Plein Edizioni, 1996); Di notte (Osnago, Como: Edizioni Pulcinoelefante, 1997); his book of criticism is Il mondo non sa nulla. Pasolini poeta e "diseducatore" (Cosenza: Jonia Editrice, 1996).

CORRADO COSTA (1929-1991), poet, narrator and essayist; founder, together with Adriano Spatola and Giorgio Celli, of the literary journal Malebolge. His poetry publications include: Pseudobaudelaire (Milano: Scheiwiller, 1964), Il mignottauro, with Emilio Villa (Macerata: La Nuova Foglio, 1970), Le nostre posizioni, (Torino: Geiger, 1972; English translation by Paul Vangelisti Our Positions, Fairfax: Red Hill Press, 1975), The Complete Films (bilingual text with English translation by Paul Vangelisti, Los Angeles-San Francisco: Red Hill Press, 1983). Fictions include La sadisfazione letteraria (Roma: Cooperativa Scrittori, 1976). An anthology of his texts is Corrado Costa, Cose che sono parole che restano, ed. Aldo Tagliaferri (Reggio Emilia: Edizioni Diabasis, 1995).

NICOLA DE BLASI, professor of the History of the Italian Language at the University of Naples "Federico II", is the author of several monographs on Italian linguistic history, the critical editor of ancient and dialectal texts, the critic of contemporary poetry in Italian and Neapolitan. He has edited, in collaboration with Paola Quarenghi, the first volume, Cantata dei giorni pari of the Teatro by Eduardo De Filippo (Milano: Mondadori, 2000).

ELIO GRASSO, born in Genoa in 1951, is a poet, critic, and translator. His plaquettes of poetry include: Acque territoriali(North, 1977), Trauma delle forme (Nuovo Ruolo, 1981), Teoria del volo (Udine: Campanotto, 1982), Sulla stella (Salerno: Ripostes, 1985), L'alleanza della neve (Laghi di Plitvice, 1996), Un mattino da esodo (DialogoLibri, 2001). His poetry collections include: Avvicinamenti (Salerno: Ripostes, 1983), L'angelo delle distanze (Modena: Edizioni del Laboratorio, 1990), Nel soffio della terra (Guardamagna, 1993), La prima cenere / Conservatori del mare [poetry and prose] (Modena: Edizioni del Laboratorio, 1994), La soglia a te nota (Bologna: Book Editore, 1997). He edited a synthetic anthology from Giacomo Leopardi's Zibaldone (Genova: Francesco Pirella, 1992); and translated T. S. Eliot's Four Quartets (Bari: Palomar, 2000), as well as poems by Cid Corman, William Shakespeare, and Wallace Stevens. In 1988, he won the "Premio Internazionale Eugenio Montale" for unpublished poetry.

ROBERT HOLLANDER is Professor of European Literature in the Department of Romance Languages at Princeton University. He is one of only three Americans to receive the gold medal of the city of Florence for his efforts on behalf of Dante. He has written a biography of Dante (Rome: Editalia, 2000), also published in English (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001).

JEAN HOLLANDER is a poet and translator whose work includes a volume of poetry, Crushed into Honey (1986), and a translation of Hugo von Hofmannsthal's The Woman without a Shadow (Lewiston, N.Y.: E. Mellen Press, 1993). She lives and works in Princeton, New Jersey.

WILLIAM STANLEY MERWIN, born in 1927, is predominantly a poet and translator (mostly from French and Spanish), but also a playwright and prose writer. He has been awarded most of the principal prizes in American poetry (including the Pulitzer Prize, the Bollingen Prize, and the Tanning Prize for mastery in the art of poetry). He has published more than twenty books and collections of poetry, from A Mask for Janus of 1952 to The River Sound of 1999 (including the Collected Poems of 1966 and the Selected Poems of 1988). He lives and works on Maui.

MARIO MORONI is the Paul and Marilyn Paganucci Assistant Professor of Italian at Colby College.

LEONARD NALENCZ is a graduate student in Renaissance Studies and comparative literature at Yale. His dissertation is entitled Genealogy in Renaissance Epic Poetry and includes both Italian and English Renaissance poets. He is also involved in translating early modern Italian poetry.

GIULIA NICCOLAI, born in Milan in 1934, is a poet, narrator and essayist. Her poetry publications include: Humpty Dumpty (Torino: Geiger, 1969), Poema & oggetto (Torino: Geiger, 1974), Harry's Bar e altre poesie (1969-1980) (Milano: Feltrinelli, 1981), Frisbees: poesie da lanciare (Udine: Campanotto, 1994; winner of the Premio Feronia, 1995). Her fiction includes: Il grande angolo [a novel] (Milano: Feltrinelli, 1966). Her essays include Esoterico biliardo (Milano: Rosellina Archinto, 2001; it contains, among other texts, Gli anni di Mulino).

CESARE PAVESE (1908-1950). Although for most of his life Pavese was engaged with literary prose (as a novelist, short-story writer, translator and essayist), his poetic productions are very important. Poetry is situated at the beginning and at the end of his life work: Pavese begins his literary career with the poetry collection Lavorare stanca (Firenze: Solaria, 1936; second edition, together with the prose text Il mestiere di poeta, Torino: Einaudi, 1943), and his second and last volume of verse, Verra' la morte e avra' i tuoi occhi, is published posthumously (Torino: Einaudi, 1951).

DAVIDE RONDONI, born in Forli' in 1964, is the founder and editor of the literary review clanDestino. He has translated numerous French poets, has edited an anthology of Giacomo Leopardi's writings, and a poetic version of the Psalms. Rondoni has founded the "Centro di poesia contemporanea" at the University of Bologna. His volume of poetry Il bar del tempo (Parma: Guanda,1999) has been awarded several literary prizes.

ADRIANO SPATOLA (1941-1988), linear and visual poet, narrator, essayist; founder, with Giulia Niccolai, of the international poetry review Tam Tam. His poetry collections include: Poesia da montare (Bologna: Sampietro, 1965), L'ebreo negro (Milano: Scheiwiller, 1966), Zeroglifico (Bologna: Sampietro, 1966; English translation by Paul Vangelisti, Zerogliphycs, Fairfax: Red Hill Press, 1978), Majakovskiiiiiiiij (Torino: Geiger, 1969), Algoritmo (Torino: Geiger, 1973), Diversi accorgimenti (Torino: Geiger, 1975), La composizione del testo (Roma: Cooperativa Scrittori, 1978), La piegatura del foglio (Napoli: Guida, 1983), Impaginazioni (Ilario d'Enza: Edizioni Martello, 1984), La definizione del prezzoL'oblo' (Milano: Feltrinelli, 1964), and the critical essay Verso la poesia totale (Torino: Paravia, 1978, second edition). Together with Paul Vangelisti, he has edited the poetic anthology Italian Poetry from Neo to Post-avant-garde (Fairfax: Red Hill Press, 1982).

SUSAN STEWART is Regan Professor of English at the University of Pennsylvania where she teaches poetry and aesthetics. She is the author of three books of poetry, most recently The Forest, University of Chicago Press, 1995, and four books of critical prose, including On Longing and the forthcoming Poetry and the Fate of the Senses. With Wesley Smith, she is also the translator of Euripides' Andromache, which will appear in the new Oxford University Press classics in translation series in 2001. A 1997 MacArthur Fellow, she taught in Rome for many years in the summer program in aesthetics at the Tyler School of Art.

LUCIANO TROISIO, born in Monfalcone (Gorizia), currently teaches linguistics and Italian culture in the Philosophy Department of the University of Lubiana. Among his volumes of poetry: Precario (Manduria, Taranto: Lacaita, 1980), Venticinque vettori (Nuovedizioni Vallecchi, 1981), Persistenza del cavallino (L'Atzana, 1984), I giardini della Maharani (Mercato saraceno, 1986), Prove di diluizione (Fiume: La Battana, 1999); for fiction: Tirtagangga e varie sorgenti, cinque descrizioni asiatiche (Venezia: Marsilio, 1999). He has authored critical essays and edited literary anthologies.

PAOLO VALESIO has published his twelfth volume of poetry, Dardi, with paintings by Pier Giovanni Bubani, and prefaces by Alberto Cappi and Martina Corgnati (Faenza: I Quaderni del Circolo degli Artisti, 2000).

MICHELANGELO ZIZZI's latest publication is the critical monograph Autoritratto con monade. Fenomenologia della poesia in Girolamo Comi, Lecce: Multimedia Pensa Editore: 2000).