Alisa Ganieva is a writer of fiction and essays. In 2009, her first long story - Salam, Dalgat! about her native land in the Caucasus - won the prestigious Debut Prize a major literary award for young writers. Ganieva is the author of three novels, all of which have been published in English by Deep Vellum: Bride and Groom, The Mountain and the Wall, and Offended Sensibilities.

Carol Apollonio teaches at Duke University. She is the author and editor of books about Russian literature, including Simply Chekhov and Dostoevsky's Secrets; Chekhov's Letters (with Radislav Lapushin); The New Russian Dostoevsky; and Chekhov for the 21st Century (with Angela Brintlinger). A former conference interpreter, she has translated books from Russian and Japanese.