Mansoura Ez-Eldin is an Egyptian award-winning author of ten books. Her book, Walks in Shanghai, received the Ibn Battuta Prize for travel literature 2021; her novel, Emerald Mountain, received the award of the best Arabic novel in 2014 from Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF). In 2009, she was selected for the Beirut39 as one of the 39 best Arab authors below the age of 40. Her writing has appeared, among other places, in Granta, The New York Times, A Public Space, and The Neue Zürcher Zeitung.

“ربيع داكن” was first published in the Al-Ahram daily newspaper on Friday, June 18, 2010. It was then published in Ez-Eldin’s short story collection, The Path to Madness (Dar Merit, 2013). “ربيع داكن” was published for the first time in English in Vagabond City’s 101st issue (November 2024).