Christopher Whyte (1952- ) is a poet in Scottish Gaelic, a novelist in English, and the translator into English of Rilke, Pasolini and Tsvetaeva. After pursuing a distinguished academic career in Italy and Scotland, researching and teaching Scottish and Gaelic literature, he took early retirement in 2005 and now lives in Ferrara, Italy, where he writes full-time. This is his seventh book of translations from the Russian of Marina Tsvetaeva.