INGER CHRISTENSEN was born in 1935. She is one of Denmark’s best-known poets, and has published six books of poetry over a forty-year period. She has also written novels, plays, children’s books and essays. As well as winning many Danish awards, she has won several major European literary awards, including the prestigious Nordic Prize of the Swedish Academy (1994), Der osterreichische Staatspreis für Literature (1994), Preis der Stadt Münster für Europaische Poesie (1995) and Grand Prix des Biennales Internationales de Poesie (1996).

Inger Christensen has been a member of Det Danske Akademi (the Danish Academy) since 1978, of the Bielfelder Colloquium since 1994, and of the Academie Europeene de Poesie since 1996.

SUSANNA NIED is a former instructor of English and comparative literature at San Diego State University in California. Her work has appeared in various literary journals and anthologies. Her translation of alphabet won the 1982 ASF/PEN Translation Prize for Poetry, awarded by the American-Scandinavian Foundation and Scandinavian Review.