Amélie Nothomb, Belgian by nationality, was born in Kobe, Japan, and currently lives between Bruxelles and Paris. Since her first novel Hygiène de l'assassin (1992), she has a large following. Fear and Trembling (1999) sold several 100 000 copies and won the Grand Prix of the Académie Française. She is the best-selling author of sixteen novels, translated into over thirty languages. Her latest novel, Ni d'Ève ni d'Adam (2007) won the Prix de Flore.

Béatrice Commengé is the translator into French of Anaïs Nin and Kete Millett. She has published notably La Danse de Nietzsche (1988), the biography Henry Miller, ange, clown, voyou (Plon 1991), L'Homme immobile (1998), Et il ne pleut jamais, naturellement (2003; Cazes Prize). She regularly contributes to many literary reviews (L'Infini, L'Arc, Cahiers de l'Herne, Légendes, Hors Jeu, L'Art du Bref, Ligne de Risque, L'Atelier du Roman) and travel writing reviews (Grands Reportages). Her latest work, En face du Jardin (2007), recreates six days in Paris in the life of Rainer Maria Rilke.