Muriel Rukeyser (1913-1980), described by The New York Times as a brilliant mind fiercely at work," was the author of several collections of poetry, plays, fiction, three books of biography, children's stories, a libretto for a musical about Houdini, a book-length manifesto on poetry, and the translator of a wide range of poets, including Octavio Paz and Gunnar Ekelof. Jan Heller Levi's third collection of poems, Orphan , will be published in January 2014 by Alice James Books. She is the editor of A Muriel Rukeyser Reader and is currently writing a biography of Rukeyser, forthcoming from Alfred A. Knopf, with Christoph Keller. She teaches at Hunter College in New York City. Christoph Keller, a Swiss novelist and playwright now living in New York, has published more than ten books in German, among them his bestselling memoir The Best Dancer , about his life with a disability. He is co-author, with Jan Heller Levi, of the forthcoming biography of Muriel Rukeyser. Keller is also currently working on a collection of short stories in English.

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