Hilal Chouman

Hilal Chouman is a Lebanese novelist and writer born in Beirut. He studied communications and electronics engineering at Jâmi’at Bâyrut Al-Arabiya, and obtained an MSc in aerospace communication systems and satellite communications. Chouman has written five novels in Arabic: Stories of Sleep (Cairo: Dar Malamih, 2008); Napolitana (Beirut: Dar Al Adab, 2010); Limbo Beirut (Beirut: Dar Al Tanweer, 2012); Once upon a Time, Tomorrow (Beirut: Dar Al Saqi, 2016) and Sadness in my Heart (Berlin: Khan AlJanub, 2022). In 2017, Limbo Beirut, translated into English by Anna Ziajka Stanton and published by University of Texas Press, was nominated for the PEN Translation Prize and the Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize. Currently he is in the early stages of writing his next novel, tentitively entitled Safe Space. He is also working on a graphic novel, with the working title, Not Here, Not There, with artist Emma Harake.

Nashwa Nasreldin is a writer, editor, and translator of Arabic literature whose book translations include the collaborative novel by nine refugee writers, Shatila Stories, and a co-translation of Samar Yazbek’s memoir, The Crossing: My Journey to the Shattered Heart of Syria. A former current affairs documentary producer and journalist, Nashwa has reported on stories from around the Middle East and North Africa. She holds an MFA in Writing from the Vermont College of Fine Arts and her poems have appeared in a number of literary journals in the UK and further afield. As well as translating and writing poetry, Nashwa writes feature articles and reviews for literary and cultural publications.