Occasional Virgin

Hanan Al Shaykh is one of the Arab world's most aclaimed writers. She was born in Lebanon and brought up in Beirut, before going to Cairo to receive her education. She was a successful journalist in Beirut, then later lived in the Arabian gulf, before moving to London. She is the author of the short story collection I Sweep the Sun off Rooftops and her novels include The Story of Zahra, Women of Sand and Myrrh, Beirut Blues, Only in London, The Locust and the Bird, a memoir of her mother's life, and One Thousand and One Nights, her acclaimed re imagining of Arabic folktales. She has also written two plays, Dark Afternoon and Paper Husband. Her work has been translated into 28 languages. Hanan Al-Shaykh lives in London.

Catherine Cobham is a lecturer in Arabic and head of the department of Arabic and Persian at the University of St Andrews. She has translated a number of contemporary authors from Arabic, including Naguib Mahfouz, Mahmoud Darwish, Hanan al-Shaykh, Fuad al-Takarli and Ghayath Almadhoun.