Born in Moscow, Dimitri Psurtsev is a poet and translator who has written five books of poetry — Ex Roma Tertia, Tengiz Notebook, Between, Tired Happiness, and Murka and Other Poems — and translated numerous books from English. He teaches at Moscow State Linguistic University and lives with his wife, Natalia, outside Moscow. Translations of his work have appeared, or will soon appear, in The Dodge, Ergon, The Journal, Presence, and World Literature Today.

Philip Metres is the author of ten books, including Shrapnel Maps (2020), The Sound of Listening: Poetry as Refuge and Resistance (2018), and Pictures at an Exhibition (2016). He has translated five books of poetry from Russian into English. His work has garnered the Guggenheim Fellowship, the Lannan Fellowship, two National Endowment for the Arts grants, and three Arab American Book Awards, among others. He is professor of English and director of the Peace, Justice, and Human Rights program at John Carroll University, and is core faculty at Vermont College of Fine Arts.