Jay Parini, a novelist and poet, is Axinn Professor of English at Middlebury College in Vermont. His six novels include The Last Station, Benjamin's Crossing and The Apprentice Lover. His volumes of poetry include The Art of Subtraction: New and Selected Poems. In addition to biographies of John Steinbeck, Robert Frost, and William Faulkner, he has written a volume of essays on literature and politics as well as The Art of Teaching. He edited the Oxford Encyclopedia of American Literature and writes regularly for the Guardian and other publications.

Jay Parini, a novelist and poet, is Axinn Professor of English at Middlebury College in Vermont. His six novels include The Last Station, Benjamin's Crossing and The Apprentice Lover. His volumes of poetry include The Art of Subtraction: New and Selected Poems. In addition to biographies of John Steinbeck, Robert Frost, and William Faulkner, he has written a volume of essays on literature and politics as well as The Art of Teaching. He edited the Oxford Encyclopedia of American Literature and writes regularly for the Guardian and other publications.