Faysal Khartash, a winner of the Naguib Mahfouz Prize for Arabic Literature, is a leading Syrian author. He lives in his native Aleppo, has written several novels and works as a schoolteacher while contributing to Syrian newspapers.

First published in Arabic as Dawwåar al-mawt måa bayna òHalab wa-l -Raqqa, copyright à 2017 Faysal Khartash. Translation copyright à 2021 Max Weiss.