Four Questions of Melancholy

Slovenian poet <>Tomaž Šalamun (1941-2014) is hailed as one of the most prominent poets of his generation, renowned for his impact on the Eastern European avant-garde movement. He published more than fifty books of poetry in his native Slovenian and his work has been translated into more than twenty languages around the world, numbering over eighty volumes. His books include Druids, Justice, and Andes, all three also published by Black Ocean. Matthew Moore is a poet, translator, and editor. His poetry appears widely in literary journals, including Fence, Interim, Lana Turner, Second Stutter, and West Branch. He lives in Boulder, Colorado.

Christopher Merrill has published six collections of poetry, including Watch Fire, for which he received the Lavan Younger Poets Award from the Academy of American Poets; many edited volumes and translations; and six books of nonfiction, among them, Only the Nails Remain: Scenes from the Balkan Wars, Things of the Hidden God: Journey to the Holy Mountain, The Tree of the Doves: Ceremony, Expedition, War, and Self-Portrait with Dogwood. As director of the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa since 2000, Merrill has conducted cultural diplomacy missions to more than fifty countries.

Tomaž Salamun was born in 1941 in Zagreb. He has published over thirty books of poetry and frequently teaches at American universities, including Pittsburgh, Richmond, and Texas.