Born in 1954 in Moncton, NB, Allan Cooper is a poet, musician, translator, and publisher. He studied literature at Mount Allison University under John Thompson, whose influence is discernable in Cooper’s first book of poetry, Blood-Lines (1979). His work also shows the influence of the Chinese and Japanese writers he has translated into English. Many of his poems are set in the small seaside village of Alma, NB, on the Bay of Fundy, where he has lived since 1991. An editor of the journal Germination from 1982–91, he founded Owl’s Head Press in 1985 to publish writers who were out of the literary mainstream. He also served as the first President of the Writers’ Federation of New Brunswick. Allan Cooper has published 21 books, many of which are now out of print, and have won numerous awards.