Richard Kostelanetz was born in 1940 in New York City and still lives there. He is a writer, artist, critic, and editor of the avant- garde who is productive in many fields. He has degrees from Brown University, Columbia University, and attended King's College, London. He served as visiting professor or guest artist at a variety of institutions and lectured widely. His published works include In the Beginning (1971), The End of Intelligent Writing: Literary Politics in America (1974), Recyclings: A Literary Autobiography (1974, 1984), A Berlin Lost (1984), and A Dictionary of the Avant-Gardes