Alisa Ganieva, born in 1985, grew up in Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan, and currently lives in Moscow. Her literary debut, the novella Salaam, Dalgat!, published under a male pseudonym, provoked contradictory reactions in Russia: astonishment, especially among young Russians, at this unknown part of their country; and anger among radical Islamists at this negative portrayal of their homeland by one of their own. Salaam, Dalgat! won the prestigious Debut Prize in 2009, and Ganieva revealed her true identity only at the award ceremony. Ganieva works as a journalist and literary critic. The Mountain and the Wall is her first novel, shortlisted for all three of Russia's major literary awards, and has already been translated into several languages. Dr. Carol Apollonio is Professor of Slavic & Eurasian Studies at Duke University. Her most recent translations include German Sadulaev's The Maya Pill (Dalkey Archive, 2014) and new versions of Chekhov stories. In addition to being an accomplished translator, Dr. Apollonio is also one of the world's foremost scholars on both Fyodor Dostoevsky and Anton Chekhov. She was awarded the Russian Ministry of Culture's prestigious Chekhov Medal in 2011 for her contribution to the study of Anton Chekhov's literature.