Emmanuel Hocquard was born in 1940 and grew up in Tangiers. He is the author of over 20 books in his native French. Among those which have been translated into English are The Invention of Glass (translated by Cole Swensen and Rod Smith, Canarium Books, 2012), Conditions of Light (translated by Jean-Jacques Poucel, Fence Books/La Presse, 2010), and A Test of Solitude (translated by Rosmarie Waldrop, Burning Deck, 2000).

"In reading [The Invention of Glass] one is reminded of those French poets of the last forty or fifty years that really matter, especially Ponge and Char, without feeling like what one is reading is derivative of those writers. " —Brandon Holmquest, Three Percent Best Translated Book Award Finalist Citation

About The Invention of Glass: This is a narrative that tries to explain and to crystalize (the fourth state of water) a situation that has not yet been clarified. Under the guise of memory’s particular logic, its play of facets turns to fiction because its sense takes shape only as the series of grammatical phrases unfolds, fusing shadows and blind spots. And yet, like glass, which is a liquid, the poem is amorphous. It streams off in all directions, but reflects nothing. What is the meaning of blue? No one needs to interrogate the concept of blue to know what it means.