“Poetry is meant to inspire readers and listeners, to connect them more deeply to themselves even as it links them more fully to others. But many people feel put off by the terms of poetry, its odd vocabulary, its notorious difficulty.”

American poet and critic

Edward Hirsch is an American poet and critic. He is president of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation in New York City, and he is known for his books on poetry as well as his work as a poet. He has published nine books of poems, including The Living Fire: New and Selected Poems, which gathers thirty-five years of work, and Gabriel: A Poem, a book-length elegy for his son. He has also written five prose books about poetry, among them a national bestseller on reading poetry.