Zakaria Tamer, born in Damascus in 1931, published his first stories in 1957 and has long been recognized as one of the pre-eminent short fiction writers of the Arab world, as well as the foremost writer of Arabic children’s fiction. He lives in London. He was awarded the Al Amajidi Ibn Dhaher Blue Metropolis Arab Literary Prize in 2009 Brian O’Rourke has pursued careers in law and diplomatic service. He lives in Istanbul. Denys Johnson-Davies has produced more than thirty volumes of translation of modern Arabic literature. He is the editor of The Essential Tawfiq al-Hakim (AUC Press, 2008), The Essential Yusuf Idris (AUC Press, 2009), and In a Fertile Desert (AUC Press, 2009).