Diane Thiel has lived in Europe and South America and is fluent in several languages. A 2001 Fulbright Scholar and recipient of the Robert Frost and Robinson Jeffers awards, Thiel holds BA and MFA degrees from Brown University. She has taught creative writing, literature and other subjects at the University of Miami, Florida International University, University of New Mexico, and elsewhere. Many of the poems in Echolocations, Thiel's first collection, speak frankly about her German heritage and the lineage of trauma brought on by war and violence. Several relate to her parents' experience of mingling cultures and languages, or to their early lives.