Ales Steger: Ale teger is the most prominent Slovenian poet of his generation: his work has won major awards in his own country and has been translated into numerous languages. His European publishers are among the most prominent in their countries: his German publisher is Suhrkamp which also publishes fellow Slovenians Slavoj Zizek and Tomas Salamun; his Italian publisher is Zandonai; his Spanish publisher is Pretextos. The Book of Things is Steger's most widely praised book of poetry. He is becoming one of central Europe's most prominent poets as well as one of its brightest stars in general. Brian Henry: Brian Henry has published five books of poetry and edited other books. His next book, Lessness, is forthcoming from Ahsahta Press. He's placed more than 400 poems in magazines in over a dozen countries. He has co-edited the prestigious international literary journal Verse since 1995, and co-founded Verse Press in 1999. He has reviewed poetry for the New York Times Book Review, Times Literary Supplement, The Kenyon Review, Boston Review, The Yale Review, and many other places. His essays on poetry have appeared in Virginia Quarterly Review, The Georgia Review, The Antioch Review, and in books published by Harvard University Press, University of Wisconsin Press, and Salt Publishing. He teaches at University of Richmond in Virginia.
Steger has a tremendous capacity for juxtaposition, and the poems offer a great many startlingly moments...[His] flair is in not pausing at the virtuoso moment but brushing past as it drops. -- Rain Taxi ...the things described in this book are defamiliarized and here, often, Steger is at his best. The way he personifies an object, or the metaphor he uses, is never obvious, but it always makes complete sense. -- Three Percent Review ...a smart, startling, and wildly pleasurable book. -Kenyon Review (online)