Malika Mokeddem is an Algerian exile who has lived most of her life in France. A medical doctor as well as a writer, she worked in Montpellier as a general practitioner focusing on the health needs of the immigrant North African community until recently, when death threats forced her to close her clinic. Century of Locusts won several literary awards in France, including the prix Littré. Laura Rice is an associate professor of comparative literature at Oregon State University. Karim Hamdy does research in the area of international development and is a teacher of French and Arabic at Oregon State University. Rice and Hamdy are coauthors of Departures, the translations of and critical essays on the selected writings of Isabelle Eberhardt.