Ioanna Bourazopoulou was born in Athens in 1968. She has written novels, plays and short stories. Her works have been published in Greek and foreign literary magazines, short story collections and anthologies. Her novel What did Lot’s wife see? was awarded the Athens Prize for Literature (2008) and is available in French, English and Bulgarian translations. In 2013, The Guardian newspaper ranked it among the best science fiction books of the year.  In 2017, she was awarded an honorary scholarship (Award of Excellence) by the Bavarian Ministry of Science and Culture, featuring a residency at Villa Concordia, Bamberg (International House of Artists). Between 2011-2023, she wrote the novel trilogy The Dragon of Prespa, consisting of The Valley of Mud (2014), Amber Desert (2019) and The Memory of Ice (2023), winning four literary prizes as the volumes were published, including the Athens Academy Award in 2015 and the National Award for a Novel in 2024.