Ahdaf Soueif

Ahdaf Soueif is a novelist and political and cultural commentator. Born in Cairo, she was raised and educated in both England and Egypt. Her debut novel, In the Eye of the Sun, was published in 1993. She is best known for her second novel, The Map of Love, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1999. It has since been translated into 21 languages and sold over a million copies. In 2008 she initiated the first Palestine Festival of Literature - an annual cultural festival that tours around Palestine.