Khaled Alesmael is a writer and journalist from Syria, where he was co-founder of a major music radio station. Now based in London, his writings on sex, LGBTQ+ and migration—in both English and Arabic—have a dedicated international readership. Throughout his career, he has lived and worked in several capital cities in the Middle East and Europe. He received the International Visitor Program to the US for his work as an environmental journalist. His debut novel Selamlik has been widely acclaimed and was longlisted for the PEN Translates Award. Bed Works is his latest novel. 

Leri Price is an award-winning literary translator of contemporary Arabic fiction. Price’s translation of Khaled Khalifa’s Death Is Hard Work was a finalist for the 2019 National Book Award for Translated Literature and winner of the 2020 Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation. Her translation of Planet of Clay by Samar Yazbek, also published by World Editions, was a finalist for the 2021 National Book Award for Translated Literature. Price’s recent translations include Where the Wind Calls Home by influential Syrian writer Samar Yazbek, a 2024 National Book Award Finalist.