Ashraf El-Ashmawi is an Egyptian author, judge, and legal scholar. He is a regular contributor to newspapers and online publications. He has written eleven novels that have been critically received: longlisted for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction; best novel at the Cairo International Book Fair; and winner of best novel at the Bahrain Cultural Forum. His books have been translated into multiple languages and The House of the Coptic Woman is his second novel to be translated into English, following The Lady of Zamalek.

Peter Daniel, a long-term resident of Egypt, has worked as a teacher of Arabic as a foreign language and an Arabic-to-English translator for many years.