Roger Garfitt was born in 1944 and has been a freelance writer ever since winning the Gregory Award in 1974. He was married to the late Frances Horovitz, whose Collected Poems he edited in 1985. From 1985 to 1992 he spent much of his time in Colombia, where he reported for Granta and the London Review of Books. He is now remarried and living in Shropshire. His autobiography, The Horseman's Word (Cape), was published in April 2011. Carcanet have published three previous collections of his poetry, most recently Given Ground (Poetry Book Society Recommendation, 1989).

Elizabeth Garrett was born in London, and grew up in Channel Islands. Her first book of poems, The Rule of Three (Bloodaxe, 1991), was selected for the New Generation Poets promotion in 1994. She works for the Voltaire Foundation in Oxford.