Novica Tadiæ was born in 1949 and has lived most of his life in Belgrade. The author of fourteen previous collections of poetry, including The Object of Ridicule, Monster, and The Unknown, he is the most-respected living Serbian poet. Tadiæ has won almost every major Serbian literary award, including the prestigious Laureat Nagrade. In the last two decades, he has served as editor of several Serbian literary magazines. Tadiæ's books of poems have been translated into more than two dozen languages.