Dunya Mikhail was born in Iraq (Baghdad) and came to the United States thirty years later. Her books include The Beekeeper of Sinjar, The Iraqi Nights, Diary of A Wave Outside the Sea, and The War Works Hard. Among her prestigious awards are the Guggenheim Fellowship, the Knights Foundation grant, the Kresge Fellowship, and the United Nations Human Rights Award for Freedom of Writing. She currently works as a special lecturer of Arabic at Oakland University in Michigan.