CAROL MUSKE is a poet, novelist, critic and professor at the University of Southern California. Her most recent books of poems are Red Trousseau (Viking/Penguin, 1993) and Applause (Univeristy of Pittsburgh Press, 1989). Her novels are Dear Digby (Viking, 1989) and Saving St. Germ (Viking, 1993). Saving St. Germ was a New York Times Book Review Most Notable Book for 1993. She is a regular poetry and fiction critic for The New York Times Book Review. Her novel, Dear Digby was optioned by Michelle Pfeiffer for a feature film. She has been recipient of grants and awards from, among others, the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Ingram-Merrill Foundation, the Alice Fay Di Castagnola Award from the Poetry Society of America and several Pushcart Prizes. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, actor David Dukes and her daughter Annie.