Raja Alem, one of the most highly regarded writers in contemporary Arabic literature, is the author of seven novels, as well as plays and poetry. She lives in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Tom McDonough is the author of the novel, Virgin with Child, and a story collection, Light Years. His cinematography won an Academy Award for the feature documentary, Best Boy. Raja and Tom's first collaborative work was Fatma, also published by Syracuse University Press.