Lisa Appignanesi was born in Poland, grew up in Paris and Montreal before moving to Britain. A university lecturer, she was a founder member of Writers and Readers Publishing Cooperative and then deputy director of London's Institute of Contemporary Arts. She is currently deputy president of English PEN and also a member of PEN's Writers in Prison Committee. She is also a noted broadcaster, critic and cultural commentator. Her translation (together with John Berger) of Nella Bielski's The Year is 42 was awarded the 2005 Scott Moncrieff Prize for Translation and her novel The Memory Man won the 2005 Holocaust Literature Award and was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers' Prize. Lisa Appignanesi lives in London and has two children.