Hanadi Al-Samman Editor

Hanadi Al-Samman is an associate professor of Arabic language and literature at the University of Virginia. Her research focuses on contemporary Arabic literature, diaspora, and sexuality studies, as well as transnational and Islamic feminisms. She is the author of Anxiety of Erasure: Trauma, Authorship, and the Diaspora in Arab Women’s Writings and coeditor of The Beloved in Middle Eastern Literatures: The Culture of Love and Languishing. Nihad Sirees was born in Aleppo, Syria, in 1950. The writer of novels, plays, and screenplays, Sirees is best known for his realistic portrayal of Syria’s social, political, and historical issues. Although his work was banned from publication in Syria after Sirees was branded an opponent of the government, The Silence and the Roar has been translated into several languages. After facing increased pressure and surveillance from the Syrian government, Sirees left for Egypt in 2012. He currently lives in Berlin, Germany.