Stephen Dunn (1939–2021) was the author of nineteen poetry collections, including the Pulitzer Prize–winning Different Hours. He was a distinguished professor emeritus at Richard Stockton University and received an Academy Award in Literature, among many other honors.

"Dunn comes to recognize the tedium of getting what you want . . . and the naturalness of violence. But he never loses his edge, his glint. . . . Dunn may be incorrect, but he is always right, and always ravishingly articulate."