Saïd Khatibi is a novelist, travel writer, translator, and cultural journalist born in 1984 in Bou Saâda, Algeria. He writes in Arabic and French and translates between both. He has a BA in French Literature from the University of Algiers and an MA in Cultural Studies from the Sorbonne. Sarajevo Firewood, his third novel, was shortlisted for the 2020 International Prize for Arabic Fiction. His other novels are The Book of Errors which was published in 2013, and Forty Years Waiting for Isabelle which won the 2017 Katara Award for Arabic Novel. He has written a travel book about the Balkans, The Inflamed Gardens of the East, 2015, and has written extensively on raï music, including a book (Wedding Fire, 2010) that tells its story. He currently lives in Slovenia.