Ali al-Domaini

was born in 1948 in Saudi Arabia, and is a poet, novelist and activist for human rights. He was for several years cultural editor of the Saudi Al-Yawm newspaper and has published four collections of poetry and one novel.

 In March 2004 he was arrested with other Saudi intellectuals and academics for campaigning for democratic reforms in Saudi Arabia, and was held in prison for over one year. His recently published fourth book of poetry is a collection of poems about prison and freedom written over the last year. Banipal 22 published an excerpt of his novel The Grey Cloud, translated by Issa J Boullata.