Henry Israeli is a poet and playwright, educated at the University of Iowa's Writers Workshop and Theater Arts Department. His books include a collection of poetry, New Messiahs (Four Way Books, 2002) and Fresco: The Selected Poetry of Luljeta Lleshanaku (New Directions, 2002), which he edited and co-translated. He has been awarded fellowship grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Canada Council on the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, and Toronto Arts Council, as well as a residency at the MacDowell Colony. His poetry and translations have appeared in numerous journals, including Grand Street, The Iowa Review, Quarterly West, Tin House, Fence, Verse, and elsewhere. He is currently at work on a second collection of poetry, tentatively titled Tristesse Derogate. Henry Israeli is also the founder of Saturnalia Books, a small press dedicated to poetry and art books.