Michael Symmons Roberts was born in 1963 in Preston, Lancashire, U.K. His fourth book of poems, Corpus, won the 2004 Whitbread Poetry Award, and was short-listed for the International Griffin Prize, the Forward Prize, and the T. S. Eliot Prize. In the U.S., his poems have appeared in Poetry, Ploughshares, AGNI, The Southern Review, and Grand Street. His work as a librettist with composer James MacMillan has led to song cycles, choral works, opera, and musical theater, all performed widely in Europe and America. He teaches at the Writing School of Manchester Metropolitan University. (updated 2006)