Zhang Zao, born in 1962 in Changsha, Hunan, is an outstanding figure of contemporary Chinese poetry. He studied at Hunan Normal University and Sichuan International Studies University, and went to Germany in 1986 to attend the University of Trier and the University of Tubingen, where he received a doctorate in literature and philosophy. He returned to China at the beginning of the twenty-first century and successively taught at Henan University and the Minzu University of China. He died of lung cancer on March 8, 2010. His collection of poems, Chunqiu lai xin (Letters from Spring and Autumn) was published before his death. A collection of his poems and essays have been collected and posthumously published. 

张枣，生于1962 年，湖南长沙人，当代杰出的汉语诗人。先后就读于湖南师范大学和四川外国语学院。1986 年赴德， 曾在特里尔大学、图宾根大学求学，并获文哲博士学位。21 世纪初回国，先后在河南大学、中央民族大学任教，2010 年3 月8 日因患肺癌去世。张枣通晓英、德、法、俄等外语， 他广泛采撷中西诗歌元素，以精妙的诗艺自成一家风格，在海内外享有卓著的声誉。张枣生前出版过一本诗集《春秋来信》，参与主编出版过一本《德汉汉德词典》。去世后《张枣的诗》《张枣随笔集》等作品陆续被整理出版。