An acclaimed Egyptian novelist, essayist, and recipient of the Cavafy Prize for Literature (2023), the Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature from the American University in Cairo (2016 for Tales of Yusuf Tadrus), the Sawiris Cultural Award (2020), and the Egyptian State Encouragement Prize (2011). He was shortlisted for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction (The Arab Booker) in 2019 for his celebrated epic The Commandments. Renowned for his contemplative prose, deep psychological realism, and intimate excavation of Egyptian rural heritage and collective memory, Esmat’s widely translated works including Days of Blue Windows, Barefoot, and At the End of Time explore the quiet resilience of human lives amidst relentless historical transformation.

An acclaimed Palestinian novelist, poet, and journalist, Bassem Khandaqji was born in Nablus in 1983. Arrested in 2004 at the age of twenty-one and sentenced to life imprisonment, he completed his degree in Political Science from Al-Quds University from behind bars, transforming two decades of captivity into a powerful crucible of literary creativity. He is the author of several poetry collections-including Rituals of the First Time and The Narcissus of Isolation-as well as celebrated novels such as The Eclipse of Badr al-Din, The Breath of a Woman Let Down, and his monumental work A Mask, the Color of the Sky, which won the 2024 International Prize for Arabic Fiction. Known for his lyrical prose, meticulous historical research, and fearless exploration of identity, Khandaqji is widely regarded as one of the most distinctive literary voices of contemporary Palestinian literature.