Suad Amiry is an architect and the founder and director of RIWAQ, Centre for Architectural Conservation, in Ramallah. She grew up in Amman, Damascus, Beirut, and Cairo, and studied architecture at the American University of Beirut and at the Universities of Michigan and Edinburgh. Amiry participated in the 1991—1993 Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations in Washington, D.C., and from 1994 to 1996 was assistant deputy minister and director general of the Ministry of Culture in Palestine. She is the author of several books on architecture and was awarded Italy’s Viareggio-Versilia Prize in 2004 for this book. She lives in Ramallah.
"Full of marvelously detailed, colorful human complication, as funny as it is galling and heartbreaking." —Tony Kushner, author of Angels in America
"Sharply, gloriously different . . . The seemingly casual narrative . . . works its way into your heart without asking you to hate anyone: just to hate a situation." —The Scotsman
"Powerful. . . . Extremely funny." —The Sunday Times (London)
"A literary protest done with great wit, skill, and passion. Not only is it really funny but it shows the kind of courage, vision, and humanity needed to bring peace to the Middle East." —Eve Ensler, author of The Vagina Monologues