Born and raised in Portland, Oregon, Lex Runciman has lived most of his life in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. He is the author of five volumes, including One Hour That Morning (2014) and Starting from Anywhere (2009), both from Salmon Poetry (Ireland). The Admirations (Lynx House, 1989) won the Oregon Book Award. He holds graduate degrees from the writing programs at the University of Montana and the University of Montana. He is co-editor of two anthologies, Where We Are: The Montana Poets’ Anthology and Northwest Variety: Personal Essays by 14 Regional Writers, and his own work has appeared in several anthologies including Alive at the Center, CutBank 40, From Here We Speak, Portland Lights, and O Poetry, O Poesia. He was adopted at birth. He and Deborah Jane Berry Runciman have been married more than 40 years and are the parents of two grown daughters.