Born in Beirut in 1952, Hoda Barakat has lived in Paris since 1989. After graduating in French literature from the Lebanese University, she moved to Paris but returned home shortly after the outbreak of the Lebanese Civil War (1975–90) and worked in education and journalism there.

Her powerful and innovative novels, written in Arabic, have been translated into almost twenty languages. These include The Stone of Laughter (1995), which features a gay male protagonist, and The Night Mail, which received the 2019 International Prize for Arabic Fiction. She has also been decorated twice by the French Ministry of Culture.

Barakat has taught at Dartmouth, Sorbonne Université, and other European and American colleges and universities. During her residency she will be teaching "Language and Rebellion: Arabic Literature in a Comparative Context" in the Middle Eastern Studies Program.