Sappho is celebrated as the supreme ancient Greek poet of love and of the personal lyric, and noted also for her vivid participation in a living paganism. Jim Powell's translation is recognized for its unique combination of poetic mastery and scholarly penetration of the original. This edition includes his translation of the newly discovered poem, the most important addition to Sappho's surviving work in a century.

A MacArthur Fellow who has taught at Reed College, the University of Chicago, and the University of California, Berkeley, Jim Powell is the author of two poetry collections, It Was Fever that Made the World and Substrate.