To date the chief clues to Sands' identity are in an interview she gave to Claire Messud for Guernica magazine.[3] According to Messud, who met Sands in person in Berlin in May 2011, "under another name, Ariel Sands is an internationally known and highly respected writer of nonfiction." (She does not specify whether this other name is a real name or also a pseudonym.) Sands is "slight and elegant" but with "a commanding presence: in her professional capacity, she is accustomed to speaking before crowds."