Dennis Held is the fourth of eight kids from Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin. After dropping out of high school in 1975, he got a GED, then went to college at 25 and received a BA from The Evergreen State College and an MFA from the University of Montana. He taught literature, editing and writing classes at colleges and universities around the West including UM and Lewis-Clark State College, and now works as a free-lance book editor. His two books of poetry are Betting on the Night, and Ourself.