Заира Махачева | Zaira Makhacheva
Zaira was originally a professor at the Dagestan Medical School with a Ph.D. in Ophthalmology. She has more than 100 publications to her credit that include educational and scientific materials. Zaira’s penchant for learning languages led to literary achievements including the French-Russian translation of the play Schamyl written by the 19th century author Paul Meurice.
After moving to Edmonton in 2006, Zaira attended a business school, then started the company CANnection Services to promote intercultural communication. In 2014, Zaira initiated and coordinated the translation, editing, and preparation of the dual-language version of Hammers & Bells for presentation in Russia and North America.
Алиса Ганиева | Alisa Ganieva
Born in Dagestan, and a graduate of the Maxim Gorky Literature Institute in Moscow, Alisa is a novelist and writer of essays and short stories. In 2009, from a contingent of over 60,000 contestants, Alisa won a Russia-wide debut literary competition. Her most recent novels, The Mountain and the Wall (USA, Deep Vellum, 2015) and Bride and Groom (USA, Deep Vellum, 2018), were both shortlisted for major national literary prizes including the Russian Booker Prize and Yasnaya Polyana. The recipient of numerous literary awards, her work has been translated into English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Catalan, Dutch and Turkish. She works as an editor for the Nezavisimaya Gazeta and as a host with Russian television channel Top Secret.
Анастасия Строкина | Anastasia Strokina
Anastasia Strokina is a poet, writer, translator and graduate of the Maxim Gorky Literature Institute. In 2015, she received a Solomon Apt Award from Russia’s Foreign Literature Journal for her translations from English and Danish. Anastasia was also the winner of the Russia-wide Best Children’s Book Award “Kniguru” in 2015 for her book “The Whale goes North”. In 2016, she won a New Children’s Book Award for “The Owlish Wolf ”. Her poetry translations are published in numerous Russian literary journals and anthologies. A participant with the British Council Poetry Translations Program, Anastasia is also the author of several articles on contemporary British and American poetry.
Фируза Абилова | Firuza Abilova
Firuza possesses a Ph.D., is Associate Professor in the Department of Foreign Literature of Dagestan State University, and is an Honored Worker of Higher Professional Education of the Russian Federation. She is the author of over 80 scientific articles on European writers of the XIX - XX centuries. Her monograph "The Poetics of the Tragic in the English Novel of the XIX - XX Centuries" (Makhachkala, 2003) is dedicated to the main subject of her scientific interests. In February 2017, together with her colleagues, she founded the Fans of Foreign Literature Club as a way to stimulate an interest in the treasury of world literature and art in youth, and to establish dialogue between cultures.
Ася Джабраилова | Asya Dzhabrailova
Asya Dzhabrailova is an artist/illustrator from Makhachkala, Dagestan, where she earned an MA from the Dagestan College of Art in 2011. As a respected digital artist for an on-line magazine and Dagestan Book Publishing House, she has created illustrations for children’s books, poetry, short stories and novels. Asya is also an illustrator/animator/participant with the Fathers and Daughters Project, which is supported by the European Commission. Asya prepared the cover art for this bilingual collection.