Palestinian novelist, short-story writer, and film director Liana Badr was born in Jerusalem and is one of the most celebrated and translated Palestinian writers. She studied at the University of Jordan and graduated from the Beirut Arab University with a BA in philosophy and psychology and earned her M.A. from Birzeit University. She was exiled from Jericho in 1967, and has lived in many countries. In 1994, she returned to Palestine and worked at the Palestinian Ministry of Culture (PMC) as a general director for the Arts. She has directed seven documentary films, which have received many international awards. This short story is from her book ʿThe Land of the Turtle’ published in 2019.