Paola Caridi (Rome, 1961) is an essayist and journalist. She holds a PhD in History of International Relations. From 2001 to 2003, she was a correspondent in Cairo for Lettera22, an association she co-founded and now presides over. For the following ten years, she lived and worked in Jerusalem. Her work focuses on the contemporary political history of the Arab world. Her books are published by Feltrinelli. The most recent is Il gelso di Gerusalemme. L’altra storia raccontata dagli alberi, which won the Sila Prize in 2025. Shortly after October 7th, 2023, an updated edition of her historical study Hamas: Dalla resistenza al regime (Feltrinelli) was released; it won her the 2024 Kapuściński Prize for literary reportage.