Stuart Friebert spent a year in Germany as one of the first U.S. exchange students after World War II. He received his PhD in German Language and Literature from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. He taught at Oberlin College until the mid 1970s and founded Oberlin's Creative Writing Program. He cofounded Field Magazine, later the Field Translation Series, and Oberlin College Press. He is the author of numerous books, including Funeral Pie and Floating Heart. He's also published ten volumes of translations.