Hana Androniko­va was born in the Czech Repub­lic in 1967. Her first nov­el won the Mag­ne­sia Lit­era Award in 2002; she won again in 2011, short­ly before suc­cumb­ing to cancer.

Rachel Fein­gold was born in Zurich and immi­grat­ed to the US at the age of eight. She is an edi­tor, lit­er­ary event plan­ner, and fic­tion writer.