One of English literature’s fiercest practitioners, Robert Graves (1895–1985) was a preeminent poet, novelist, memoirist, critic, translator, children’s book author, and scholar of classical mythology. He served and was injured as an infantry officer in France during World War I—an experience recounted in his 1929 autobiography, Goodbye to All That—and later became the first professor of English literature at the University of Cairo. Graves is best remembered today for I, Claudius and other acclaimed historical novels, The Reader Over Your Shoulder (which popular grammarian Patricia T. O’Conner has called “the best book on writing ever published”), and his works of classical mythology for adults and children, including The White Goddess, The Siege and Fall of Troy, and Greek Gods and Heroes. Others among his many acclaimed works of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction include Collected Poems, Homer’s Daughter, Wife to Mr. Milton, They Hanged My Saintly Billy, and The Golden Fleece; with Alan Hodge: The Long Week-End and The Reader Over Your Shoulder; and for children: Ann at Highwood Hall and The Hebrew Myths.

Dan-el Padilla Peralta is assistant professor of classics at Princeton University. His 2015 memoir Undocumented: A Dominican Boy’s Odyssey from a Homeless Shelter to the Ivy League (Penguin) received an Alex Award from the American Library Association.