Abdel al-Rahman Munif wrote fifteen novels, including the monumental quintet Cities of Salt, and won numerous distinguished Arab awards. He died in 2004.

Roger Allen is Professor of Arabic Language and Comparative Literature at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author and editor of numerous books relating to Arabic literature and the translator of Nobel Prize-winning author Naguib Mahfouz’s God’s World, Al-Summan Wa-Al-Kharif and Al-Maraya, among other works.