X. J. Kennedy is an acclaimed poet, children’s author, college teacher, and textbook author. He has taught freshman composition at the University of Michigan; the University of North Carolina, Greensboro; and Tufts University. More than 2 million students have used his introductory literature texts and The Bedford Reader, now in its fourteenth edition.
Dorothy M. Kennedy was a writer and editor whose articles and reviews have appeared in both professional and academic journals. She taught composition at the University of Michigan and Ohio University and, with X. J. Kennedy, was the recipient of the NCTE Teachers Choice Award for Knock at a Star: A Childs Introduction to Poetry.
Marcia F. Muth teaches, writes, and edits. She has taught first-year writing at The Ohio State University and other introductory courses at St. Peters College (Englewood Cliffs). Her many writing workshops have been sponsored by Fordham University, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, and currently the School of Education and Human Development at the University of Colorado Denver. She is the author or coauthor of many composition textbooks and ancillaries, including The Bedford Guide for College Writers, The Concise Bedford Guide for Writers, Writing and Revising: A Portable Guide, Researching and Writing: A Portable Guide, and The St. Martins Pocket Guide to Research and Documentation (all from Bedford/St. Martins). Her projects as a writer and an editor have included Harold D. Lasswell: An Annotated Bibliography as well as many grant proposals, textbooks, ancillaries, reports, and other publications. She continues to learn how to write clearly and effectively from her students, editors, reviewers, and writing colleagues.