Fatima Bhutto is the author of the novels The Runaways and the Women's Prize for Fiction-longlisted The Shadow of the Crescent Moon, and the non-fiction New Kings of the World and Songs of Blood and Sword, which deals with her father's murder and the Bhutto family's history in Pakistani politics. Bhutto's journalism and essays have appeared in the New Statesman, New York Times and Guardian, and elsewhere. Bhutto was born in Kabul, Afghanistan and grew up between Syria and Pakistan. She graduated from Columbia University in 2004, majoring in Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures and from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London in 2005 with a Masters in South Asian Government and Politics.