Nermin Y¿ld¿r¿m's work is characterised by its preoccupation with themes related to personal and collective memory. Her novels have been translated into many languages, including Spanish, Chinese, Arabic, Serbian, Bulgarian, Polish, Azerbaijani and Macedonian. Secret Dreams in Istanbul is her second novel and the first to be translated into English. 

Ümit Hussein, of Turkish-Cypriot origin, was born and grew up in London. In 2018 her translation of Burhan Sönmez's novel, Istanbul Istanbul, won the EBRD Literature Prize.