Peter Hargitai grew up in the tiny village of Balástya in southern Hungary. He and his family fled the country in the aftermath of the Hungarian Revolution. They settled in the United States where he obtained a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He has taught at several American universities including the University of Miami, the University of Massachusetts, and Florida International University where he is currently on the English faculty. His book of translations of Attila József, Perched on Nothing's Branch, is listed in Harold Bloom's The Western Canon. Peter Hargitai is past recipient of the Landon Translation Award from the American Academy of Poets, The Füst Milán Award from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and the Pro Cultura Hungarica Medal from the Republic of Hungary.