Ramsey Nasr was born in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, in 1974, into a Palestinian-Dutch family. In addition to writing poetry, essays, dramas, librettos, newspaper articles and opinion pieces, he trained and continues to work as an actor. In 2009 Ramsey Nasr was voted Poet Laureate of the Netherlands, after having also been the City Poet of Antwerp in 2005. Heavenly Life – Selected Poems, his first collection in English translation, will be published this year by Banipal Books, www.banipal.co.uk.