Karl Schembri is the author of novels, short stories and poetry in Maltese and English. His works have also been published in translation in Arabic, Spanish, French and Romanian. A former journalist, he spent four years in the Gaza Strip, first working with a Palestinian news agency and then as a media officer with Oxfam. He now lives in Amman, Jordan, with his wife Simine, cats Mario and Munzer, and a dog called Mitti. He works as a media adviser in the Middle East with the Norwegian Refugee Council, a job which takes him to some of the hot spots of conflict and displacement including Syria, Yemen, Palestine, Iraq and Lebanon.

(photo credit: Simine Alam)