Elaine Feinstein writes poems, novels, and plays as well as reviews for most newspapers. In 1959 Charles Olson sent her his famous letter defining breath prosody, but she developed her own voice through making versions of the poems of Marina Tsvetaeva, a New York Times Book of the Year. Her first novel, The Circle (1970) was longlisted for the lost Man Booker prize in 2010. Her five biographies include Ted Hughes: The Life of a Poet (2001) shortlisted for the biennial Marsh Biography Prize, and re-issued in 2016 ; and Anna of all the Russias: The life of Annna Akhmatova (2005) which has been translated into twelve languages, including Russian. She has served as a judge for all the major literary Awards, and was Chairman of the Judges for the T.S. Eliot Prize in 1995.
