Alessandro Spina was the nom de plume of Basili Shafik Khouzam, who was born into a family of Syrian Maronites in Benghazi in 1927. His work was short-listed for the Strega and Campiello prizes and, when it was published in full, The Confines of the Shadow was awarded the Bagutta Prize.


André Naffis-Sahely is a renowned Italian-Iranian poet, critic, and translator. He is the recipient of a 2016 Writers in Translation Award from English PEN. He has written for the Times Literary Supplement, the Independent, and the Economist and is a contributor to Words Without Borders. He lives in Los Angeles.