Jil Silberstein was born in Paris in 1948. After many travels, he settled in Switzerland, worked in publishing, and directed the cultural anthropology journal Présences. During a stay in North America, he lived for over a year with the Indigenous peoples of Quebec-Labrador, an experience that inspired a series of texts blending travel and ethnology: Innu, Kali’na, and Dans la taïga céleste [In the Celestial Taiga], all published by Albin Michel. A poet and essayist, Silberstein is the recipient of the Schiller Prize and also translates works by Trakl, Miłosz, T. E. Lawrence, and Charles Reznikoff. He has notably published Les Voix de Iaşi [The Voices of Iași] (2015, Noir sur Blanc).