Jane Hirshfield is an American poet, essayist, and translator, known as 'one of American poetry's central spokespersons for the biosphere' and recognized as 'among the modern masters,' 'writing some of the most important poetry in the world today.' A 2019 elected member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, her books include numerous award-winning collections of her own poems, collections of essays, and edited and co-translated volumes of world writers from the deep past. Widely published in global newspapers and literary journals, her work has been translated into over fifteen languages.

Izumi Shikibu was a mid-Heian period Japanese poet. She is a member of the Thirty-six Medieval Poetry Immortals . She was the contemporary of Murasaki Shikibu, and Akazome Emon at the court of empress Joto Mon'in.