Stephen Dunn was born June 24, 1939, in the Forest Hills section of New York City. As of 2004, he was the author of twelve books of poetry, including Different Hours (2000), which won the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for poetry. Other books include New & Selected Poems: 1974—1994 (1994), Loosestrife (1996), and Local Visitations (2003). He has also written two books of prose: Walking Light: Memoirs and Essays on Poetry (1993) and Riffs and Reciprocities: Prose Pairs (1998). In addition to a Pulitzer, Dunn has been awarded many honors and prizes, including the Academy Award in literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, fellowships from the Guggenheim and Rockefeller foundations, and three National Endowment for the Arts creative writing fellowships.

As a young man, Dunn seemed destined for a very different kind of life. He was a valued basketball player for Hofstra University (where he majored in history), played basketball professionally for the Williamsport Billies...