Johannes Beilharz (one of whose pseudonyms is Leonard Blumfeld) was born in Germany in 1956, studied English and Romance literature in Regensburg, Germany, and English Literature/Creative Writing in Boulder, Colorado, USA, obtaining an M.A. in 1981. He makes a living as a translator, currently in Pliezhausen, Germany, and Rome, Italy. He has published poetry, short fiction and translations of poetry in both English and German since 1978. Publications include: Rural Ditties (poems, 1980), Die gottlosen Ameisen (short stories, 2003), Best of Meme (poems and flash fiction, 2008), Fallschirme, Geliebter (selected poems of Barbara Guest in German translation, 2008), Eine finnische Jazznummer für die Missverstandenen (poems, 2014).