Nathalie Handal was born on July 29, 1969 and is originally from Bethlehem. She has lived in the United States, Europe, the Caribbean, Latin America, and the Arab world. Handal finished her postgraduate studies in English and Drama, University of London, and her MFA in Creative Writing, Bennington College. She has been involved either as a writer, director or producer in over 20 productions worldwide, most recently, Deir Yassin, The Stonecutters (Loews Theatre), La Cosa Dei Sogni and Between Our Lips (Public Theatre). She is the author of two poetry CDs; two poetry books, The NeverField and The Lives of Rain (Shortlisted for The Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize); and the editor of The Poetry of Arab Women: A Contemporary Anthology (an Academy of American Poets Bestseller/Winner of the Pen Oakland/Josephine Miles Award), and co-editor of Contemporary Poetry from Asia and the Middle East (Norton). Handal is currently working on the feature film, Gibran.