Beata Umubyeyi Mairesse was born in Butare, Rwanda in 1979. Surviving the genocide against the Tutsis, she moved to France in 1994 to study political science and work for humanitarian causes. She is now an acclaimed novelist and poet.

Alison Anderson is a literary translator and author of three novels, Hidden Latitudes, Darwin's Wink and The Summer Guest. She has translated over thirty novels from French, including Muriel Barbery's The Elegance of the Hedgehog and the works by Nobel laureate JMG Le Clézio.