Stuart Rojstaczer is an American writer, scientist and musician. Born in Milwaukee, he received degrees from the University of Wisconsin, University of Illinois and Stanford University. 

Ronald C. Rosbottom is the Winifred L. Arms Professor in the Arts and Humanities and Professor of French and European Studies at Amherst College.

Elizabeth Rosner grew up in Schenectady, New York as a daughter of Jewish holocaust survivors. 

one of the most important rock musicians of our time. 

lives in Birmingham. He has been a bouncer,  teacher, acupuncturist and now works as a Humanist
funeral minister. His story collection Little Moscow was highly praised. The Norway Room is his debut novel. 

John Searles is the author of the best-selling novels Boy Still Missing, Strange But True and Help For The Haunted. 

Meir Shalev was born in 1948 on Nahalal, Israel’s first moshav and is one of Israel’s most celebrated novelists. 

British Academy postdoctoral fellow at the Welcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging at University College London. 

Palestinian lawyer and writer who lives in Ramallah, West Bank.

After graduating from Colorado College, John Shors lived for several years in Kyoto, Japan, where he taught English. On a shoestring budget, he later trekked across Asia, visiting ten countries and climbing the Himalayas. 

London-based author, filmmaker and poet.

is a medical malpractice lawyer in New York City and serves on the Board of Directors for the New York State Trial Lawyers Association.

Brendan Simms is professor in the history of international relations at the University of Cambridge. 

A human factors research scientist, Andrew Smart received B.S. and M.S. degrees from Lund University in Lund, Sweden, where he worked on using noise to improve memory and attention in children with ADHD. 

is the author of Pitch Invasion/Sneaker Wars, the story of the rivalry between Adidas and Puma which was an international bestseller. 

(1896-1972) grew up poor in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, the very world she recreates with such meticulous detail in A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN. 

Will Smith was born in 1971. He was brought up in Jersey in the Channel Islands. Beginning as a stand-up comedian he won Time Out's Comedy award for 2004 and Chortle's Best headliner for 2005. 

Jessica Soffer is a graduate of Hunter College's MFA program and has been published in Granta. She teaches Creative Writing at Connecticut College and lives in New York City.

was born in 1946 in Budapest. He is a writer, a dramatist and a translator and scholar of Polish literature.