Gharbi M. Mustafa is a native of Iraqi Kurdistan and a professor of English at the University of Dohuk. He has personally interviewed Yazidi women who have escaped ISIS, and his novel is based on details of their ordeals as well as his familiarity with Yazidi culture and lore. He is also the author of the self-published, English-language memoir When Mountains Weep, about growing up in Kurdistan under the regime of Saddam Hussein. He lives in Dohuk.