Rachel Hadas is a poet, professor, essayist and translator. She is the author of twelve books of poetry including her newest book, The Ache of Appetite. Hadas received her M.A. from Johns Hopkins University and Ph.D. in comparative literature from Princeton University. Since 1981, she has taught in the English Department of the Newark, New Jersey campus of Rutgers University, and has taught occasional courses in literature and writing at both Columbia and Princeton. She is currently a Board of Governors Professor of English. Among her honors are a Guggenheim Fellowship, an Ingram Merrill Foundation grant, and an award in literature from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. She lives in New York City.