Born in 1946 in Egypt, Sawsan Noweir is a retired professor of architecture. She studied architecture and Egyptology in Egypt and France. After two years in France, she met Assia Djebar in 1975 in Paris. From 1976 to 1978, she spent two years in Algeria, for Assia Djebar’s film La nouba des femmes du mont Chenoua, and as a professor of architecture at the Institute of Architecture of Constantine.

Mireille Calle-Gruber, Professor of literature and aesthetics at La Sorbonne Nouvelle and writer supervised the publishing of Oeuvres Complètes de Michel Butor (La Différence, 2006-2010), wrote with Butor Le Chevalier morose (story script), co-supervised the Dictionnaire Universel des Créatrices (des Femmes, 2013 – digital since 2016). She co-organised the Colloque de Cerisy, Assia Djebar, littérature et transmission, (Presses Sorbonne Nouvelle, 2009) and published two monographies : Assia Djebar, la résistance de l’écriture (Maisonneuve & Larose, 2001), Assia Djebar, une surabondance dans le coeur (Ministère des Affaires Etrangères, 2006). Mireille Calle-Gruber is life member of the Academy of Arts, Letters and Humanities of The Royal Society of Canada, and she is docteur honoris causa of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. She recently published Assia Djebar, le manuscrit inachevé (PSN, 2021).