About the Author

A native of Montréal, Canada, René Balcer is an award-winning writer, producer and director of television series (Law & Order, Law & Order Criminal Intent) and documentaries. A former journalist, his writings on social issues have earned him awards from the American Bar Association, the Alliance for Justice and Planned Parenthood. As a visual artist, he studied Photography and Visual Representation at Concordia University (Montréal). Backbone, his 2011 collaboration with the renowned Chinese artist Xu Bing, has been exhibited at LACMA, the VMFA, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Asia Society (Hong Kong), SCAD Museum of Art, and the Aldrich Museum. He has lectured widely about writing, art and the duties of artists in free societies, notably at Harvard, Columbia U., UPenn, the Sorbonne, the Central Academy of Fine Arts (Beijing) and the Journalists Club (Moscow).