Sharif Elmusa is a widely published poet, scholar, and translator. He co-edited, and contributed to, the anthology, Grape Leaves: A Century of Arab-American Poetry (Interlink Books). Elmusa is currently an associate professor of Political Science at the American University in Cairo. He served for four years as director of the Middle East Studies Program. He obtained his undergraduate degree from Cairo University and doctorate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is Palestinian by birth, American by citizenship.