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 the Practice of Russian at Duke University. In addition to being an accomplished translator, Dr. Apollonio is also a scholar specializing in the works of Fyodor Dostoevsky and Chekhov and on problems of translation. She is the author of the monograph >Dostoevsky's Secrets (2009), and she has edited volumes and numerous articles on nineteenth century Russian literature. She was awarded the Russian Ministry of Culture's Chekhov Medal in 2010, and she currently serves as President of the North American Dostoevsky Society.