KIMIKO HAHN is the author of seven collections of poetry, including, The Unbearable Heart which received an American Book Award; Earshot, a Theodore Roethke Memorial Prize and an Association of Asian American Studies Award; and The Narrow Road to the Interior (W.W. Norton, 2006). The latter--whose title is from the haiku master, Basho--consists of work inspired by Japanese classical forms. Her newest collection, Toxic Flora, is forthcoming, 2010. Professor Hahn has also written for film; the latest, Everywhere At Once, was presented at The Cannes Film Festival. Recent awards: The Shelley Memorial Award and the PEN/Voelcker Award. She is a Distinguished Professor in the MFA Program in Creative Writing and Literary Translation at Queens College, The City University of New York.

HAROLD SCHECHTER, author of over thirty books, is best known for his groundbreaking work in true crime, beginning with Deviant: The Shocking True Story of Ed Gein the Original “Psycho.” His other books include his most recent true crime volume, The Devil’s Gentleman: privilege, poison and the trial that ushered in the 20th century, a series of detective novels with Edgar Allan Poe as sleuth and, as editor, the highly regarded Library of America collection, True Crime: an American Anthology. Aside from American literature, Professor Schechter teaches courses at Queens College on “The American Nightmare” and “Myth and Archetype.” He has also written for t.v. and, if he looks familiar, it may be because he is often on the Discovery Channel speaking about cannibalism or psychopathic sex murder.