About the Author

Vija Celmins has received international attention for renditions of natural scenes, which are often copied from photographs that lack a point of reference, horizon or discernable depth of field. She renders these spaces - seascapes, night skies and the barren desert floor - with an uncanny accuracy, working for months on a single image. A master of several mediums, including oil painting, charcoal and multiple printmaking processes, Celmins matches a tangible sense of space with sensuous detail in each work. She currently lives in New York and California. Eliot Weinberger was born in 1949 in New York City, where he still lives. He is the primary translator of Octavio Paz into English. His most recent publications are the collection of essays Karmic Traces: 1993-1999 and a translation of Bei Dao's Unlock (with Iona Man-Cheong). He is also the editor of The New Directions Anthology of Classical Chinese Poetry (2003).