The Kansas-born son of a Presbyterian minister, Robert Menzies McAlmon became a central figure of the Lost Generation. After marrying the English poet and novelist Bryher, McAlmon expatriated to Paris, where his friendship with Joyce, Stein, Hemingway, and other young Left Bank writers led him to begin publishing Contact Editions, which, although financially unsuccessful, presented the works of many authors who were later to become well-known.