Nicola Vulpe was born in Montreal. He completed a doctorate in philosophy at the Sorbonne, and taught in Spain before settling in Ottawa. His poems and translations have appeared in journals such as Alba, The Antigonish Review, Carousel, The Ex-Puritan, The Manhattan Review, Mediterranean Poetry, Montréal Serai, Slush Pile Magazine, and Stand Magazine. He has also published a novella, The Extraordinary Event of Pia H., who turned to admire a chicken on the Plaza Mayor, and four previous collections of poetry, including, with Guernica, Insult to the Brain and Through the Waspmouth I Drew You, which both received Fred Cogswell Awards for Excellence in Poetry.