Nomura Kiwao studied Japanese literature at Waseda University and pursued doctoral studies in French literature at Meiji University. His works include over two dozen volumes of poetry and critical essays, in addition to translations of Paul Verlaine, Joris-Karl Huysmans, and others. He received several prestigious literary prizes, including the Takami Jun Prize and the Ayukawa Nobuo Prize. The first full volume of his works in English, Spectacle & Pigsty, translated by Kyoko Yoshida and Forrest Gander, won the 2012 Best Translated Book Award. He has taught creative writing, rhetoric, French, and literary studies at Waseda University, Hitotsubashi University, and Meiji University, and has recently focused solely on his own creative work.