Hatem Hafez (b. 1974) is a writer, academic, translator and journalist. He has written 8 plays and one novel, Because Things Happen (2009). The story featured here is from his first collection of short stories, Biscuit and Molasses. His second collection of short stories was published in 2017. Hafez has won several dramatic prizes, including the Best Play at the Festival of Arabic Theatre in 1996 for the play The Final Act and the Fawzi Fahmy Prize for Drama from Cairo University in 2009.