Hanan al-Shaykh is one of the contemporary Arab world's most acclaimed 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 Cairo and in Beirut, then later lived in the Arabian Gulf, before moving to London. She is the author of the collection
I Sweep the Sun off Rooftops and her novels include
The Story of Zahra, Women of Sand and Myrrh, Beirut Blues and, most recently,
Only in London, which was shortlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize. She lives in London.