A writer, novelist, and translator from La Rochelle, France (Zarafa's current home), Olivier Lebleu has researched and written about the "first giraffe of France" for fifteen years. This book is a translation of his celebrated history, Les Avatars de Zarafa (Arléa, 2006), later followed by his play, Le Talisman de la Girafe (Amok, 2017).



Cynthia T. Hahn is professor of French at Lake Forest College, Illinois. A published poet, she has translated ten novels, collections of short stories, and volumes of poetry by Algerian, French, and Lebanese authors.