Haytham el-Wardany is a writer and translator, living and working (still) in Berlin. He spent the last year listening to talking animals, in fables and elsewhere, and learned from them how to speak in moments of danger. His recent book, Banat Awa and the Missing Letters, considers forgotten expressions of hope within Arabic fables, where animals speak and humans listen. Previous publications available in English include The Book of Sleep (Al-Karma, 2017; Seagull Books, 2020) and How to Disappear (Kayfa ta, 2013-2017).