Lisa Russ Spaar is the author/editor of over ten books of poetry and criticism, most recently Madrigalia: New & Selected Poems (Persea, 2021) and a forthcoming debut novel, Paradise Close (Persea Books, 2022). Her honors include a Rona Jaffe Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Library of Virginia Prize for Poetry, the Carole Weinstein Poetry Prize, and a Pushcart Prize. She is a professor of English at the University of Virginia, where she for many years directed the Creative Writing Program.