Cole Swensen is the author of ten volumes of poetry, including an SF State Poetry Center Book Award winner and a finalist for the National Book Award. She also translates French poetry, prose, and art criticism. Her translation of Jean Fremon's Island of the Dead won the 2004 PEN USA translation award, and volumes by Olivier Cadiot, Pierre Alferi, and Pascalle Monnier have been published by Green Integer, Burning Deck and others. She is the founder and editor of La Presse, a small press dedicated to contemporary French poetry. She teaches at the Iowa Writers' Workshop.