Eyad Houssami makes and writes about theatre. He grew up in the suburbs of Atlanta, studied theatreat Yale University, and lives in Beirut. He is the author of the play Mama Butterfly.
Elias Khoury was born in Lebanon in 1948. Editor in Chief of the cultural pages of the daily newspaper Al-Nahar and professor of Arabic literature at New York University, he is the author of eleven novels. In 2000 he was awarded the Prize of Palestine for Gate of the Sun. Elias Khoury is regarded as one of the best Arabic writers of his generation.