Rayyan Al-Shawaf is a writer and book critic based in Beirut and Brummana, Lebanon. His book reviews have appeared in several North American daily and weekly newspapers, including Boston Globe, Chicago Reader, Chicago Sun-Times, Christian Science Monitor, (Toronto) Globe and Mail, Miami Herald, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, New York Press, San Antonio Express-News, San Francisco Chronicle, St. Petersburg Times (now Tampa Bay Times), Tennessean, and Washington City Paper. Longer reviews and essays have been published in magazines such as the Barnes & Noble Review, Bookforum, Books & Culture, Brooklyn Rail, Daily Beast, Paste, and Truthdig. He has recently begun circulating his fiction, with short stories appearing in literary journals The Vehicle and Clarion, and is currently at work on a novel.