Christopher Merrill has published seven collections of poetry, including Watch Fire (White Pine Press), for which he received the Lavan Younger Poets Award from the Academy of American Poets; many edited volumes and translations; and six books of nonfiction, among them, Only the Nails Remain: Scenes from the Balkan Wars (Rowman & Littlefield), Things of the Hidden God: Journey to the Holy Mountain (Random House), and Self-Portrait with Dogwood (Trinity University Press). His writings have been translated into nearly forty languages; his journalism appears widely; his honors include a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres from the French government, numerous translation awards, and fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial and Ingram Merrill Foundations. As director of the University of Iowa’s International Writing Program since 2000, Merrill has conducted cultural diplomacy missions to more than fifty countries. He served on the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO from 2011-2018; in April 2012, President Barack Obama appointed him to the National Council on the Humanities.