Nicholas Awde was raised in Nigeria, the Sudan, Kenya and the U.K. He studied Arabic and Hausa at London's School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) and has written or edited numerous books on non-European languages and cultures, including Swahili-English/English-Swahili Practical Dictionary and Georgian-English/English-Georgian Dictionary & Phrasebook, among many others published by Hippocrene Books. Awde divides his time between London, England and Brussels, Belgium.