Cyrus Cassells is the author of three previous books, The Mud Actor, Soul Make a Path Through Shouting and Beautiful Signor. Among his honors are a Lannan Literary Award, a Lambda Literary Award, and the William Carlos Williams Award. An Associate Professor of English at Texas State University-San Marcos, he has served on the Board of Directors of the Austin Circle of Theaters and garnered a 2003 B. Iden Payne nomination for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Drama for his role as Fielding in August Wilson's Jitney. In his devotion to the work of Lorca, he was a dramaturg for a production of Blood Wedding.

About More Than Peace and Cypresses:

"In what the poet calls his 'book of heroes,' Cassells returns to Italy, France, and Spain after his father's death and resurrects the poetic voices that guided and inspired him in his youth. . .[Cassells'] enormous passion and soft touch create images that are both delicious and haunting. Highly recommended."
—Library Journal

"The poetry of Cyrus Cassells possesses a rare combination of qualities: an equal commitment to humanity, in its suffering and transcendence of suffering, and to language, exact words chosen to render an exact image. There is an astonishing range of vision here... the language is indeed exquisite, but is infused with a spirituality and compassion that lift it far beyond the realm of aesthetic niceties."
—Martin Espada