Mario Desiati, originally from Martina, Italy, is the author of eleven novels, including his English debut, Spatriati, which received Italy's most prestigious literary award, the Strega Prize. His novel Il paese delle spose infelici is the basis of Pippo Mezzapesa's film of the same name; his novel Ternitti was a finalist for the Strega Prize. His books have been translated into thirteen languages. He lives in Apulia, Italy.

Michael F. Moore is the award-winning translator, most recently, of The Betrothed, by Alessandro Manzoni, hailed as a landmark literary event. His translations range from twentieth-century classics--Agostino by Alberto Moravia and The Drowned and the Saved by Primo Levi--to contemporary novels, including Live Bait, by Fabio Genovesi. Moore is the former chair of the PEN/Heim Translation Fund and has a PhD in Italian from New York University. For many years he was also an interpreter at the United Nations and a full-time staff member of the Permanent Mission of Italy to the United Nations.