Kathryn K. Abdul-Baki was born in Washington D.C. to a Palestinian father and American mother. She grew up in Iran, Kuwait, Beirut, and Jerusalem where she attended Arabic, British, and American schools. She attended the American University of Beirut, Lebanon for two years and earned a BA in journalism from George Washington University in Washington, D.C. She has an MA in creative writing from George Mason University, Virginia.

Ms. Abdul-Baki worked as a journalist and features-writer for an English weekly newspaper in Bahrain before devoting her time to writing fiction. Her published works include a collection of short stories, Fields of Fig and Olive: Ameera and Other Stories of the Middle East,and four novels, Tower of Dreams, Ghost Songs, Sands of Zulaika and A Marriage in Four Seasons. She won the Mary Roberts Rinehart award for short fiction, and her novel, Sands of Zulaika was a finalist for the Ariadne Prize. (She has also published in journals such as Confrontation, Shenandoah Review, Phoebe, Union Street Review, and WorldVision.)

Her books are taught at universities in Multicultural Literature and Arab Studies departments and she is a frequent lecturer at universities and schools on these subjects. Universities where she has lectured include Georgetown University, Mary Washington University, University of Virginia, Sarah Lawrence University, Tufts University, New York University, Grand Rapids Community College, University of Southern Maryland, St. Mary’s College, Maryland.

She has three children and resides with her husband in McLean, Virginia. She loves to dance, and teaches and performs Argentine Tango in the Washington DC area.