Julian Green was born in Paris in 1900, the son of American parents. He published over sixty-five books in France, including novels, essays, plays and fourteen volumes of his journal. During the First World War, he served in the American Red Cross and then in the French Army; during the Second World War, he worked at the US Office of War Information, broadcasting to France on the radio. As an American, Julian Green gained the honour of being the only foreign member of the Académie Francaise. He died in Paris in 1998.
Lila Azam Zanganeh is an Iranian-French writer. She is the author of The Enchanter: Nabokov and Happiness and edited a volume of essays by Iranian writers, My Sister Guard Your Veil, My Brother Guard Your Eyes. She was a member of the jury for the 2017 Man Booker Prize for fiction.