Born in Cairo in 1937, Sonallah Ibrahim studied law at Cairo University and was imprisoned in 1959 for his political activities. After his release he spent several years abroad and returned in 1974 to Cairo, where he has lived ever since. In 2004 he was awarded - and pointedly declined - the Egyptian government's prestigious Novelist of the Year prize.
Hosam Aboul-Ela is an author and the translator of Soleiman Fayyad and Ibrahim Abdel Meguid. He is an Associate Professor in the English department at the Universityof Houston, Texas.