Dima Alzayat was born in Damascus, Syria, and grew up in San Jose, California. Her short story collection, Alligator and Other Stories (2020), was published by Two Dollar Radio (U.S.) and Picador (U.K.), and was a finalist for the 2021 PEN/Robert W. Bingham Award for Debut Short Story Collection, the 2021 Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize, and the 2021 James Tait Black Memorial Prize.

She is the winner of the 2019 ALCS Tom-Gallon Trust Award, a 2018 Northern Writers’ Award, the 2017 Bristol Short Story Prize, the 2015 Bernice Slote Award, runner-up in the 2018 Deborah Rogers Award and the 2018 Zoetrope: All-Story Competition, and was Highly Commended in the 2013 Bridport Prize.

 Her stories have appeared on BBC Radio 4 and in Esquire, The Adroit Journal, Prairie Schooner, Bristol Short Story Award Anthology, Bridport Prize Anthology, and Enizagam. Her short story ‘In the Land of Kan’an’ was included in artist Jenny Holzer’s 2017 projection For Aarhus and was part of Holzer’s 2017 exhibition at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art.

She holds a PhD in Creative Writing from Lancaster University.