Charif Majdalani was born in Lebanon in 1960 and is one of the most important figures in Lebanese literature today. After living in France for thirteen years, he returned to Lebanon in 1993 and now teaches French literature at the Université Saint-Joseph in Beirut. His novel Moving the Palace (New Vessel Press, 2017) won the 2008 François Mauriac Prize from the Académie Française as well as the Prix Tropiques. Beirut 2020: Diary of the Collapse won the Prix Spécial du Jury du Prix Femina in 2020.