Cole Swensen is the author of 17 books of poetry, most recently On Walking On (Nightboat, 2017) and a collection of critical essays, Noise That Stays Noise (U. of Michigan, 2011). Her work has been a finalist twice for the LA Times Book Award and once for the National Book Award and has won the Iowa Poetry Prize, the SF State Poetry Center Book Award, and others. Also a translator, she has won the PEN USA Award in Literary Translation.