Fadi Azzam is a Syrian novelist and writer. He is the author of the highly-acclaimed Sarmada, longlisted for the 2012 International Prize for Arabic Fiction. Huddud's House, his second novel, was longlisted for the 2018 International Prize for Arabic Fiction. He was the culture and arts correspondent for Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper and his opinion columns have appeared in the New York Times and in newspapers across the Middle East. Ghada Alatrash, PhD, is an assistant professor at the School of Critical and Creative Studies at Alberta University of the Arts in Calgary, Canada. She holds a PhD in Educational Research: Languages and Diversity from the Werklund School of Education, the University of Calgary, and a Master's Degree in English Literature from the University of Oklahoma. Her current research speaks to Syrian art and creative expression as resistance to oppression and dictatorship.