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William Dunbar (c. 1456 – 1520) trained as a Franciscan novice in addition to studying at the University of St Andrews, Oxford, and Paris. He served as an ambassador and court poet of King James IV, for whom his work epitomized the ideals of the “Northern Renaissance.” His most famous work, “Lament for the Makaris” eulogizes twenty-four early Scots/English poets including Geoffrey Chaucer, John Barbour, Blind Harry, and Robert Henryson.

William Fowler (1560 – 1612) was a Protestant spy in Paris before returning to Scotland to become a minister and, later, moving to London to serve as secretary to Queen Anne. Besides composing original work, he also translated widely from the Italian masters such as Petrarch and Castiglione. His “Sonet: In Orknay” utilizes the rhyme scheme popularized by Fowler’s English contemporary, Edmund Spenser (1552 – 1599), thus representing Fowler’s quick talent for absorbing both classical and current trends in literature.

Gavin Douglas (c. 1474 – 1522) represented, along with William Dunbar and Robert Henryson, the flowering of the golden age of the Northern Renaissance in Scotland. Douglas studied for the priesthood and traveled widely, absorbing both contemporary and classical virtues and resources. Completed in 1513, his monumental translation of Virgil’s Aeneid was the first complete verse rendition of a classical text to be produced in Scotland.

Kent Leatham holds an MFA in poetry from Emerson College and a BA in poetry from Pacific Lutheran University. His translations of medieval/Renaissance Scots-language poetry have appeared or are forthcoming from InTranslation, Rowboat, Anomalous Press, and Ezra. His original poetry has appeared in dozens of journals nationwide, such as Ploughshares, Fence, Zoland, and Poetry Quarterly. Previously a poetry editor for Black Lawrence Press, Kent currently teaches at California State University Monterey Bay.

Zaharia Stancu (1902 – 1974) is a celebrated Romanian writer. His novels—Barefoot, The Gypsy Tribe, Crazy Forest, and The Gamble with Death—have been translated into many languages. His poetry, which he wrote all his literary life, gained its greatest acclaim in his later years, and is distinguished by the simple beauty of its diction and its focus on human mortality and aspirations. Stancu’s novels and poems, like those of Thomas Hardy, are complementary parts of an arresting literary vision.

Dona Roşu, a Romanian-born poet, essayist, journalist, and translator, lives in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Deborah Ann Percy, who lives in Kalamazoo and South Haven, MI, earned the MFA in Creative Writing at Western Michigan University. Her chapbook of short fiction, Cool Front, appeared in 2010 from March Street Press, and a full-length collection, Invisible Traffic, is forthcoming in Fall 2014 from One Wet Shoe Press. Her plays, and those written in collaboration with her husband, Arnold Johnston, have won awards, publication, and production nationwide.

Arnold Johnston lives in Kalamazoo and South Haven, MI. Cofounder of Western Michigan University’s creative writing program and founder of its playwriting program, he taught in the WMU Department of English for many years and served for ten years as its chair. His plays, and others written in collaboration with his wife, Deborah Ann Percy, have won awards, production, and publication across the country. His poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and translations have appeared widely in literary journals and anthologies.

Georg Trakl (1887 – 1914) was born in Salzburg, Austria, and seems to have been suicidal in childhood. As an extremely young child, he threw himself first in front of a galloping horse and then in front of a train. When both of those suicide attempts failed, he tried drowning himself in a lake and was rescued only when someone noticed his hat floating away. His adolescence and adulthood were marked by bouts of serious mental illness, drug and alcohol abuse, a supposed incestuous relationship with his sister, and near-constant failure.