Shibli was born in Palestine in 1974. She completed a BA and an MA in communication and journalism. She has been published regularly in literary magazines in the Arab world and in Europe. Her first novel, Masaas, was published in Arabic in 2002 by Al Adab Publishing House (Beirut) and in French by Actes-Sud Publishing House. Her second novel, We Are All Equally Far From Love, was published in 2004 by Al Adab. Shibli has twice been awarded the Young Palestinian Writers’ Award by the A.M. Qattan Foundation.  She is based in Ramallah.

Name: Feissal Darraj Country: Palestine

Darraj was born in Al-Ja’ouneh, Palestine in 1943. He obtained his PhD from the University of Toulouse, France. He has researched and written for several of the leading academic organisations and research centres in the Arab World. His works include Ideal and Reality (Al Farabi, 1989), Significance of Novelistic Relations (Dar Kanaan, 1992), Theory of the Novel and Arabic Novel (Arabic Cultural Centre, 1999), Memory of the Defeated (Arabic Cultural Centre, 2002) and Modernity in Retreat (Muwaten, 2005). He also contributed to the first volume of the History of Modern Arabic Literature (University of Paris, 2007). Darraj received the 2002 Best Arabic Book Award from the Egyptian Ministry of Culture for his book Theory of the Novel and the Arabic Novel. He was also awarded the 2003 Palestinian Creativity Award by the Palestine National Authority in 2003.

Name: Mahmoud Shukair Country: Palestine

Shukair was born in Jabal Al-Mukaber, Jerusalem in 1941. He completed a BA in philosophy and sociology at the University of Damascus. He worked in the press for several years and also as a General Director in the Palestinian Ministry of Culture. He has written twelve novels, including Rites for a Miserable Woman (2005), Portrait of Shakira (2003) A Small Space for Evening Griefs (2005), Charming Cities and a Frivolous Wind (2005) and Mirrors of Absence (2007). He has also written fifteen books for children, including The Small King (2004) and The Tree Has Said to Us (2004). Several of his stories have been translated into English, French, Spanish and Chinese.

He was awarded the 1991 Short Story Prize by the Jordanian Writers Association and was honoured by the Amman book fair in 2004 and the Ramallah book fair in 2005. He is now living in Jerusalem and devoting his time to writing.

Name: Mourid Barghouti Country: Palestine

Barghouti was born in Deir Ghassana, near Ramallah, Palestine in 1944. He has published twelve books of poetry. His Collected Works came out in Beirut in 1997.His latest collection, Muntasaf al-Lail (Midnight) was published in Beirut in 2005. A Small Sun, his first poetry book in English translation, was published by the Aldeburgh Poetry Trust, 2003. His poems are published in Arabic and international literary magazines. English translations of his poetry have been published in Al Ahram Weekly, Banipal, the Times Literary Supplement, PEN, and Modern Poetry in Translation. His autobiographical narrative Ra'ytu Ramallah(I Saw Ramallah) won the 1997 Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature. He was awarded the 2000 Palestine Award for Poetry. He lives in Cairo.