John Balaban (he/him) is the author of thirteen books of poetry and prose, including four volumes which together have won The Academy of American Poets' James Laughlin Award, a National Poetry Series selection, and two nominations for the National Book Award. His collection Words for My Daughter was a National Poetry Series Selection in 1990, and his book Locusts at the Edge of Summer: New and Selected Poems won the 1998 William Carlos Williams Award from the Poetry Society of America. In 2006, his Path, Crooked Path was an Editor's Choice at Booklist, and listed in Best of Poetry by Library Journal. In addition to his poetry, he is the author of a celebrated memoir, a children's novel, essays, and translations from Vietnamese, Bulgarian, and Romanian.