Lexi Rudnitsky (1972-2005) was born in Athens, Greece and grew up outside of Boston. She earned a B.A. from Brown University and an M.F.A. from Columbia University, and was working on a Ph.D. at Rutgers University at the time of her death. She was a lecturer at Queens College and Fordham University, and Associate Director of Undergraduate Writing at Columbia University. In 2003, Rudnitsky won the Milton Kessler Memorial Poetry Prize. In her memory, the Lexi Rudnitsky Poetry Project has funded the publilcation of dozens of books of contemporary poetry, winners of the Lexi Rudnitsky First Book Prize and the Lexi Rudnitsky Editors' Choice Award.