Daniel Halpern was born on September 11, 1945, in Syracuse, N.Y. The son of Irving Halpern, a scrap dealer, and Rosemary Glueck, Halpern received his Master of Fine Arts from Columbia University in 1972. Halpern previously held positions at Princeton University, New School of Social Research, and Columbia University as instructor in poetry. He began working at Ecco Press in New York City in 1969, and later became editor-in-chief. Daniel Halpern, who is also a freelance editor, has worked on more than two dozen books, including Traveling on Credit, The American Poetry Anthology, Plays in One Act, and The Art of the Tale: An International Anthology of Short Stories. Among Halpern's awards and honors as an editor are the Jessie Rehder Poetry Award, YMHA Discovery Award, National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, and the Great Lakes Colleges National Book Award.