David Lehman is the founder and longtime editor of the Best American Poetry series and the editor of The Oxford Book of American Poetry. He is the author of several volumes of poetry and cultural criticism, including A Fine Romance: Jewish Songwriters, American Songs, which won ASCAP'S Deems Taylor Award; The Last Avant-Garde: The Making of the New York School of Poets; and Signs of the Times: Deconstruction and the Fall of Paul De Man. A core faculty member of the graduate writing program at the New School, he lives in New York City and Ithaca, New York.