Saïd Khatibi is a novelist, travel writer, translator and cultural journalist, born in 1984 in Bou Saâda, Algeria. He writes in Arabic and French and translates between both. He has a BA in French Literature from the University of Algiers and an MA in Cultural Studies from the Sorbonne. Sarajevo Firewood is his third novel in Arabic (first in English translation) and was shortlisted for the 2020 International Prize for Arabic Fiction. His other novels are Kitab al-Khataya (Book of Errors) Editions ANEP, 2013, and Arba'un 'aman fi intidhar Izabil (Forty Years Waiting for Isabelle), 2016. Paul Starkey is an award-winning translator and Emeritus Professor of Arabic, Durham University, UK. His fiction translations include Praise for the Women of the Family by Mahmoud Shukair, Fractured Destinies by Rabai Al-Madhoun and The Shell by Mustafa Khalifa, and works by Mansoura Ez Eldin (Maryam's Maze), Adania Shibli (We Are All Equally Far From Love), Youssef Rakha (The Book of the Sultan's Seal), Rashid al-Daif (Dear Mr Kawabata), Edwar al-Kharrat (Stones of Bobello), Turki al-Hamad (Shumaisi), Mahdi Issa al-Saqr (East Winds, West Winds), Jurji Zaydan (Saladin and and the Assassins).
