Michael Heller is a poet, essayist and critic. Among his many books are Conviction's Net of Branches, In The Builded Place, Wordflow, Living Root: A Memoir, Exigent Futures, Uncdertain Poetries, Speaking the Estranged (essays on George Oppen), and Eschaton — new poems. He wrote the libretto for the opera Benjamin , based on the life of Walter Benjamin. His awards include the NEH Poet/Scholar grant, the Di Castagnola Prize and New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowships. He was born in 1937 in New York City where he now lives. His Collected Poems will be published in the USA in 2012.