There is a special section in VQR this spring, a section devoted to the translation of poems ranging from ancient Rome to 20th-century Russia and including Portugal's greatest modern poet whose poetry appeared not only under his own name— Fernando Pessoa—but under three different personalities or "heteronyms" as well—Ricardo Reis, Alberto Caerio, and Alvaro deCompos.

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The well-traveled Russell Eraser is no stranger to readers of this journal, having previously contributed essays on such diverse places as Sicily and Saudi Arabia. He now turns his attention to Scotland, the land of his forefathers, members of the clan Eraser. A professor emeritus of English at the University of Michigan, Mr. Eraser is the author of 14 books on subjects ranging from Shakespeare to The Three Romes (the other two being Constantinople and Moscow).

As a native of Canada, J. A. S. Evans has more than a passing interest in Canadian politics, and while his real field is the classics—he is a professor of classics and former chairman of the department of classics at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver—he is also well qualified to discuss "The Present State of Canada."

A novelist, poet, and prolific short story writer, Mary Gray Hughes also has a degree in social anthropology from Oxford University where she was a Fulbright scholar in the early 1950's. Her stories have been anthologized in Best American Short Stories and Editor's Choice and the magazines in which they have appeared include Redbook, Esquire, The Atlantic, The Antioch Review, and The Southwest Review.

A veteran newspaperman who has spent most of his career at The Baltimore Sun, Richard O'Mara has been a foreign correspondent in Argentina and in London, a features editor, and an editorial writer. Thus he is well qualified to ponder the future fate of the American newspaper.

Marianne Boruch published her third collection of poems, Moss Burning, last year (Field Editions). She teaches at Purdue University, where she directs the M.F.A. program.

Patricia Dobler's books include Talking to Strangers (Wisconsin) and UXB: Poems and Translations (Mill Hunk Books). She lives in Pittsburgh.

Elena Karina Byrne has recently published poems in American Poetry Review among other places. She resides in Los Angeles and is regional director of the Poetry Society of America.

Sally Ball received her M. F. A. from Warren Wilson College and currently lives in St. Louis.

Alethea Gail Segal is a poet and film-maker who lives in New York City. She, too, has an M.F.A. from the Warren Wilson College and her work has appeared most recently in Chelsea and Gulf Coast.

Jon Loomis received his M. F. A. degree from the University of Virginia. He is currently a Jay C. and Ruth Halls Fellow at the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing at the University of Wisconsin. His poems have appeared in numerous journals, including Poetry, Field, The Antioch Review, and The Ohio Review.

As a bass-baritone, Lionel Basney debuted in 1984 with the New York Grand Opera and has sung recitals and oratorio in the East, Midwest, Puerto Rico, and Haiti. He teaches writing and literature at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and his essays and poems have appeared in a wide variety of journals including Sewanee Review, Georgia Review, and Shenandoah.

When he is not writing short stories, Paul Asen makes his living as a taxi driver in New York City and has "done so for years." He is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley and later studied writing at the New School for Social Research. His stories have appeared in Kansas Quarterly, San Jose Studies, and Maryland Review.

Catullus was a first century B. C. Roman poet whose lively and scurrilous poems were written before his death at 30. His translator, William H. Crosby, M.D., is a renowned hematologist and the author of more than 450 scientific articles. He is currently completing his translations of the complete works of Catullus.

Arthur Rimbaud was one of the great 19th-century French poets. His translator, Louis Simpson, is a Pulitzer Prize winning poet who is completing a book of translations, Modern Poets of France, to be published next fall.

Coming into artistic maturity at the outset of the Russian Revolution, Marina Tsvetaevafollowed her husband into exile after the Bolshevik victory in 1922. Most of her great work was written in Berlin, Prague, and Paris. Marina returned to Russia in 1939 but with no means of support. She committed suicide at age 48 during World War II. Her translator, Nina Kossman, was born in Germany but came to the U.S. with her family when she was 13. She now writes poetry in both Russian and English and simultaneously devotes much time to painting.

Sandor Csoori is a prominent Hungarian poet and recipient of the prestigious Kossuth Award, Hungary's highest honor for achievement in artistic or scientific work. Len Roberts was a Fulbright translator to Hungary in 1991 where he completed the translation of a volume of the Selected Poems of Csoori Laszlo Vertes is an English-Hungarian translator in Budapest. He has cotranslated many of Csoori's poems with Len Roberts.

Fernando Pessoa is widely known in his native Portugal but was scarcely known at all outside of it at the time of his death in 1935. He is now regarded as one of the most original poets of any nationality writing in the 20th century and writing under four different names. His translator, Richard Zenith, is a poet living in Lisbon. Carcanet Publishers in England will be bringing out his translations of Pessoa in four volumes beginning this spring.

Frances Stokes Hoekstra is appearing in VQR for the third time. An earlier story was selected for the Best of the West 1992 anthology of short stories. Other stories have appeared in The Southern Review, Antietam Review, and The Sun.

Jeanne Schinto is the author of a collection of stories, Shadow Bands, and a novel, Children of Men, Her latest book about life and work in the old textile town of Lawrence, Massachusetts, Huddle Fever: Living in the Immigrant City, was published last year by Knopf.

Of the subjects of his joint review, John Kuehl recently wrote, "Both Scottie Lanahan and Sheilah Graham were very generous to me, and I have thoroughly enjoyed their children." Mr. Kuehl taught English at Princeton and New York University for nearly 30 years before retiring. He is the author of 11 books including F. Scott Fitzgerald: A Study of the Short Fiction.

From the late 1940's to the late 1960's, Shelley Rolfe was a sports reporter for The Richmond Times Dispatch whose beat included baseball. In the late 60's he became a political reporter and columnist for the Times Dispatch. He is now retired and resides in Richmond.

Steven Whitfield holds the Max Richter Chair in American Civilization at Brandeis University, where he has taught for more than two decades specializing in 20th-century American political and cultural history.

Harold McSween served in the Louisiana delegation of the House of Representatives with Hale Boggs from 1959 to 1963 at a time when Lindy Boggs was the principle member of her husband's Congressional staff. Mr. McSween says that his admiration for Lindy Boggs reaches back almost a half-century.

Jack Fischel is co-editor of Jewish-American History and Culture: An Encyclopedia and chairman of the department of history at Millersville University in Millersville, PA.

Paul Roazen is professor emeritus of social and political science at York University in Toronto and most recently author of How Freud Worked: First Hand Accounts of Patients.

A retired psychologist and staff member of the Leadership Institute at the University of Maryland, Cyril R. Mill has many professional articles and two books to his credit. He recently published a chap book of his own poems.

A regular contributor to VQR as well as to numerous other journals, Sanford Pinsker is a professor of English at Franklin & Marshall College in Pennsylvania.

Advisory Editors Edward L. Ayers G. Edward White Lorna Martens J. C. Levenson Kenneth W. Thompson Patricia Meyer Spacks Robert H. Kretsinger Janna Olson Gies, Business Manager Candace Pugh, Circulation Director

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