Catherine Mavrikakis was born in 1961 in Chicago and has lived all her life in Montréal. She is the author of five novels, an essay, and an oratorio, Omaha Beach (2008). Her most recent book, Le Ciel de Bay City (2009), published in Québec and in France and which earned her the Grand Prix de la Ville de Montréal, Le Prix littéraire des Collégiens and the Grand Prix des Libraires du Québec. Her most recent work published in English, FLOWERS OF SPIT, translated by Nathanaël, appeared in 2011. A CANNIBAL AND MELANCHOLY MOURNING, also translated by Nathanaël, was published in English in 2004.