Michael Dumanis was born in the former Soviet Union and lived there until 1981, when his parents were granted political asylum in the United States. Since then, he has lived in Boston, Buffalo, Rochester, Baltimore, Iowa City, New York, Bulgaria, Chicago, Cincinnati, Houston, Nebraska, and Cleveland. He is the author of My Soviet Union,, winner of the 2006 Juniper Prize for Poetry, and the coeditor, with poet Cate Marvin, of Legitimate Dangers: American Poets of the New Century. He is presently an assistant professor of English at Cleveland State University, where he also serves as Director of the Cleveland State University Poetry Center.