Malcolm Lowry (1909--1957) was a British novelist and poet whose masterpiece Under the Volcano is widely hailed as one of the greatest novels of the twentieth century. Born near Liverpool, England, Lowry grew up in a prominent, wealthy family and chafed under the expectations placed upon him by parents and boarding school. He wrote passionately on the themes of exile ... Read moreand despair, and his own wanderlust and erratic lifestyle made him an icon to later generations of writers. Earle Birney (1904-1995) was a distinguished Canadian poet novelist, who twice won the Governor General's Award, Canada's top literary honor, for his poetry. Show Less