Sahar Khalifeh was born in Nablus in 1941 and is the author of eight novels. She holds a Ph.D. in Women's Studies and American literature from the University of Iowa. She divides her time between Amman and Nablus. She is the author of The Inheritance (AUC Press, 2005), and The Image, the Icon, and the Covenant (AUC Press, 2007). Aida Bamia is professor emerita of Arabic language and literature at the University of Florida. She is the translator of The Inheritance (AUC Press, 2005), The Image, the Icon, and the Covenant (AUC Press, 2007), Papa Sartre by Ali Bader (AUC Press, 2009), and Heart of the Night by Naguib Mahfouz (AUC Press, 2011).