Michael Donaghy was born in the Bronx, New York, in 1954. In 1985 he moved to London, where he worked as a teacher and traditional Irish musician. His previous collections are "Shibboleth," " Errata" (published in one volume, entitled "Dances Learned Last Night"), "Conjure," and" Safest." A comprehensive selection of his prose writing, T"he Shape of the Dance: Essays, Interviews and Digressions," is also published by Picador.