Biographical note

Edward Said (1935-2003), was one of the world's most celebrated and influential public intellectuals. He is the author of more than 20 books that have been translated into 36 languages, including the seminal Orientalism (1979), Culture and Imperialism (1993) and Freud and the Non-European (2003). He began teaching at Columbia University in 1963 and became University Professor of English and Comparative Literature there in 1992. He was a spokesman and activist for the Palestinian cause. He was the recipient of numerous prizes and honours, including 20 honorary doctorates. Tariq Ali is a writer, critic and film-maker. He has written over a dozen books on world history and politics as well as scripts for both stage and screen. The first novel of his Islam Quartet, Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree, has been translated into several languages and was awarded the Archbishop San Clemente del Instituto Rosalia de Castro Prize for the best foreign language fiction published in Spain in 1994. The third, The Stone Woman was published by Verso in 2000.