Paolo Ruffilli was born in 1949 and attended the University of Bologna where he studied modern literature. After a period of teaching, he became editor with the Garzanti publishing house in Milan, and is presently the general editor of the Edizioni del Leone in Venice. Since 1972, he has published nine volumes of poetry. These include Piccola colazione (1987, American Poetry Prize), Diario di Normandia (1990, Montale Prize), Camera oscura (1992), Nuvole (1995) and La gioia e il lutto (2001, Prix Européen), first published in this bilingual edition by Dedalus in 2004. He has also published a number of novels, including Preparativi per la partenza (2003), as well as volumes of essays and translations from English.