The author of books of poetry, fiction, essays and plays, Samuel Hazo is the founder and director of the International Poetry Forum in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He is also McAnulty Distinguished Professor of English Emeritus at Duquesne University, where he taught for forty-three years. From 1950 until 1957 he served in the United States Marine Corps, completing his tour as a captain. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree magna cum laude from the University of Notre Dame, a Master of Arts degree from Duquesne University and his doctorate from the University of Pittsburgh. Some of his previous works are They Rule the World and Like a Man Gone Mad (Poetry), The Time Remaining and This Part of the World (Fiction), Feather, Mano a Mano and Watching Fire, Watching Rain (Drama), The Stroke of a Pen (Essays) and The Pittsburgh That Stays With- in You (Memoir). His translations include Denis de Rougemont's The Growl of Deeper Waters, Nadia Tueni's Lebanon: Twenty Poems for One Love and Adonis' The Pages of Day and Night. One recent book of poems, Just Once, received the Maurice English Poetry Award in 2003. He has been awarded twelve honorary doctorates. He was honored with the Grif n Award for Creative Writing from the University of Notre Dame, his alma mater, and was chosen to receive his tenth honorary doctorate from the university in 2008. A National Book Award Finalist, he was named Pennsylvania's rst State Poet by Governor Robert Casey in 1993, and he served until 2003.