Critically acclaimed Egyptian author, Miral al-Tahawy was born in Sharqiya in the Egyptian Delta into a Bedouin family of the al-Hanadi tribe. The youngest of seven children, she is now an Assistant Professor in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literature, and Director of the Arabic program at Appalachian State University in North Carolina.

Her previous works The Tent (1998), Blue Aubergine (2002), Gazelle Tracks (2009) have collectively been translated into many languages. Brooklyn Heights is her first novel to be published in English.