The son of a Scottish lawyer and Russian mother, Louis Simpson was born in Jamaica, West Indies in 1923. After immigrating to the United States at 17, Mr. Simpson studied at Columbia University and served active duty in the 101st Airborne Division. Returning from the war, he completed his studies at Columbia and then moved to France, where he published his first book of poems, The Arrivistes (1949). Mr. Simpson went on to write a novel, an autobiography, memoirs, literary criticism, and 18 volumes of poetry. Mr. Simpson was a National Book Award Finalist in 1964 for At The End of the Open Road, in 1966 for Selected Poems, and in 1973 for Adventures of the Letter I. He lives in Stony Brook, New York.