Jay Hopler (1970–2022) earned degrees from New York University, Johns Hopkins University Writing Seminars, the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and Purdue University. He taught at the University of South Florida. He was a National Book Award finalist and the recipient of a Lannan Foundation fellowship, a Whiting Award, and a Joseph Brodsky Memorial fellowship. His third poetry collection, Still Life, was a finalist for the 2023 Pulitzer Prize.