Born in Damascus, Syria, in 1968 and now living in Chicago, Osama Alomar is the author of three collections of short stories and a volume of poetry in Arabic, and performs as a musician. His short stories have been published by Vice.com, Ploughshares, Newyorker.com, Noon, Conjunctions.com, The Coffin Factory, Electric Literature, TriQuarterly, Gigantic, Dissent, Painted Bride Quarterly, Words Without Borders and The Literary Review. New Directions has also published Fullblood Arabian, a pamphlet-sized collection in 2014.