Dr Peter Clark, OBE is a writer, translator and a travel and cultural consultant. He has known, traveled, worked and lived in the Middle East for over 50 years, has translated eight books from the Arabic, and written and edited more than a dozen other books. An authority of the culture of all countries of the region, he has led cultural tours to Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt and Iran. His Marmaduke Pickthall: British Muslim, first published in 1986, was reissued in 2016 and has been translated into Arabic. Other books include Istanbul: A Cultural History, which has been translated into Italian, Thesiger’s Return and two books on places associated with the life and creations of Charles Dickens. Peter worked for over 30 years in seven Arab countries for the British Council, designed the International Prize for Arabic Literature and has been a Contributing Editor of Banipal, the Magazine of Arab Literature since 1998. Peter is married, has three grown up sons and a step-daughter and lives in Somerset. His hobbies are opera and marathon walking.