Michael Hamburger was born in Berlin in 1924, and came to Britain as a child. His 'Collected Poems' appeared in 1984. He has published several critical books, including 'The Truth of Poetry' and numerous translations, among them versions of Holderlin, Rilke, Hofmannsthal and Celan. In 1990 he was awarded the EC's first European Translation Prize for 'Poems of Paul Celan'.