Eliot Weinberger was born in New York City, in 1949. He primarily translates Octavio Paz into English. His anthology American Poetry Since 1950: Innovators and Outsiders (Marsilio Publishers, 1993) was a bestseller in Mexico, and his edition of Jorge Luis Borges’ Selected Non-Fictions (Penguin Books, 1999) received the National Book Critics Circle prize for criticism. He was awarded PEN’s Gregory Kolovakos Award for promoting Hispanic literature in the United States and became the first American literary writer to be awarded the Order of the Aztec Eagle by the government of Mexico. His collection of poetry in translation include A Draft of Shadows and Other Poems (New Directions, 1979) and A Tale of Two Gardens (New Directions, 1997) by Octavio Paz, Exaltation of Light (BOA Editions, 1976) by Homero Aridjism, and Unravelling Words and Weaving Water (Graywolf Press, 1992) by Cecilia Vicuña.