Mardam-Bey was born in Damascus in 1944. He holds a law degree from Damascus University and political science degrees from the University of Caen Normandie and the Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University. He pursued studies in history, geography, and social sciences at Paris Diderot University (Paris 7). From 1972 to 1986, Mardam-Bey curated Arabic books and periodicals at the library of the National Institute of Oriental Languages and Civilizations in Paris. He also served as the publishing director of the French periodical Revue d'Etudes Palestiniennes from 1981 to 2008 and worked as a cultural advisor at the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris from 1989 to 2008. Since 1995, he has been the director of the French publishing house Actes Sud’s Sindbad series, which is dedicated to translating Arabic literature into French. Mardam-Bey has authored, edited, and translated approximately 25 books in French, covering topics such as international politics, literature, gastronomic history, and bibliography.