José Kozer was born in Havana, Cuba (1940) of Jewish parents who emigrated from Poland (father) and Czechoslovakia (mother); he left his native land in 1960, lived in New York until 1997, the year in which he retired from Queens College as Full Professor, where he taught Spanish and Latin American literatures for thirty-two years. After living for two years in Torrox (Málaga), Spain, he moved twelve years ago to Hallandale, Florida, USA. Kozer graduated with a B.A. from New York University in 1965, and received his M.A. and PhD from Queens College, CUNY in 1970 and 1983 respectively. He was the recipient of the Premio de Poesía Iberoamericana Pablo Neruda (Chile) for 2013. He is the author of 63 poetry collections, as of early 2014.