Georges Simenon (1903-1989) was born in Liège, Belgium. An intrepid traveler with a profound interest in people, Simenon strove on and off the page to understand--and not to judge--the human condition in all its shades. His books include the Inspector Maigret series and a richly varied body of wider work united by its evocative power, its economy of means, and its penetrating psychological insight. He is among the most widely read writers in the global canon.

Shaun Whiteside is a Northern Irish translator of French, Dutch, German, and Italian literature. He has translated many works of nonfiction and novels, including Manituana and Altai, by Wu Ming; The Weekend, by Bernhard Schlink; Serotonin, by Michel Houellebecq; and Magdalena the Sinner, by Lilian Faschinger, which won the Schlegel-Tieck Prize for German translation in 1997.