Ruth Fainlight has published eleven collections of poems as well as short stories, translations and libretti. Born in New York City, she has lived mostly in England since the age of 15, and now divides her time between London and Somerset. Her most recent books are Selected Poems (Sinclair-Stevenson, 1995), Sugar-Paper Blue (Bloodaxe Books, 1997), which was shortlisted for the Whitbread Poetry Award.

About Burning Wire:

"Through most of this excellent book, the reader is aware of images being thought and felt through, the mind winding itself into narratives, prompted now by pain...now keen pleasure."
—George Szirtes, TLS

"Her voice can be cutting as well as lyrical...Fainlight is terrific on the subject of aging.."
—Helen Dunmore, Poetry Review

"She combines, often in one poem, the personal and the austerely detached, and excels at the uncanny note of casual recognition."
—The Oxford Companion to English Literature