Tomaž Šalamun lives in Ljubljana, Slovenia, and occasionally teaches in the USA. His recent books translated into English are Woods and Chalices (Harcourt 2008), Poker (Ugly Duckling Presse, second edition 2008) and There's the Hand and There's the Arid Chair  (Counterpath Press, 2009). His Blue Tower is due from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in 2010. He received the Europäische Preis in Münster, Germany in 2007 and a Golden Wreath from Struga Poetry Evenings in Macedonia in 2009.