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Barout was born in Aleppo. He completed a diploma in French literature at Aleppo University in 1982. Since then he has held many senior academic posts at Aleppo University. He was research manager for politics and human development at the Arabic Centre for Strategic Studies (1997-2000) and an expert at the Arabic Union Studies Centre in Beirut (2000-2004). He has been an adviser to the Syrian parliament on social and political participation and human development. He was national expert at UNDP from 2004-2006 and was the main author of the 2^nd national report on human development (UNDP Syria, 2005). He heads the team working on the report about the condition of the population in Syria 2007. Barout is the author of several books on the history of Arabic literature and its authors. He is also the editorial director of the biography of Ahmad Sayaf a leading figure in the movement for the independence of Syria from the French mandate.

Sarah Ardizzone was born in Brussels in 1970 and now lives in London. She has worked asa cultural journalist as well as a literary translator, reporting on melting pots from Harlem to Martinique, and has lived in Greece, France and Argentina. She is currently Literary Events Director of International PEN. Ardizzone won the Scott-Moncrief Prize 2007 for her translation of Just Like Tomorrow by Faïza Guène and theMarsh Award for Children's Literature in Translation (2005) for Eye of the Wolf by Daniel Pennac. She regularly promotes translation through talks and school workshops, as well as trying to keep current in her translation ofurban slang. Recent translations include The Rights of the Reader by Daniel Pennac, illustrated by Quentin Blake, and her forthcoming titles are Toby Aloneby Timothée de Fombelle (Walker Books) and Dreams from the Endzby Faïza Guène (Chatto & Windus).

Originating from the real Island of Madagasacar and having grown up in France, Soazandry, 22 years of age, began her journey in writing at the age of 16. She was appointed as one of the first editors of Live magazine, a popular and cutting edge youth publication run entirely by inspiring young people in south London. Soon after she joined Youth Culture Television where she produced and wrote various youth TV programmes. As well as receiving an award for her work, Soazandry was also selected, as one of only eight Europeans, for the Youth Judging Panel at the Cannes Film Festival. In 2006, Soazandry’s passion for a live audience led her to produce her first comedy Hip Hop musical, entitled Ignorance Is Bliss.

Mattawa was born in Benghazi in 1962. In 1979 he emigrated to the United States, completing BA degrees in political science and economics at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. He went on to earn an MA in English and an MFA in creative writing from Indiana University, where he taught creative writing and won an Academy of American Poets award. A professor of English and Creative Writing at California State University, Northridge, he has published poems in Poetry, The Kenyon Review, Crazyhorse, New England Review, Callaloo, Poetry East, Michigan Quarterly Review, The Iowa Review, Black Warrior Review and The Pushcart Prize anthology. He was awarded the Alfred Hodder Fellowship at Princeton University for 1995-96.