Born in Cuba in 1902, Loynaz established her reputation as a poet in the first half of the 20th century. After the Cuban Revolution in 1959, she retreated to her house, vowing to never write poetry again and refusing to leave the island of her birth. Like a Cuban Emily Dickinson, she lived out the -remainder of her life in seclusion. In 1992, she received the Cervantes Prize, the most prestigious writing award in the Spanish language. She died in 1997. A Woman in Her Garden presents a bilingual selection of work from all phases of her career.

Judith Kerman is professor of humanities at Saginaw Valley State College in Michigan. Her books of poetry include Mothering and The Jacoba Poems.