The Presnyakov Brothers - Oleg, born 1969, and Vladimir, born 1974 - are writers, playwrights, screenwriters, directors, producers and actors.

Stewart Pringle is a playwright and Senior Dramaturg at the National Theatre.

As a playwright, his work includes: The Bounds (Live Theatre & Royal Court Theatre, 2024); Trestle (Southwark Playhouse, 2017; winner of the 2017 Papatango New Writing Prize), The Ghost Hunter and You Look Tasty!.

Author photo by Luke Bryant

Annie Proulx is an American novelist, short story writer, and journalist. Her works include Postcards (winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction) and The Shipping News (winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the U.S. National Book Award for Fiction). Her short story 'Brokeback Mountain' has been adapted into a feature film, and into a stage version premiered in the West End.

Philip Pullman is the author of several best-selling books, most notably the fantasy trilogy His Dark Materials, its companion trilogy The Book of Dust, and the fictionalised biography of Jesus, The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ.

He was born in Norwich, England, in 1946 and grew up in Zimbabwe and Wales. He worked as a teacher for many years and his first children’s novel, Count Karlstein, came out in 1982. The Ruby in the Smoke, the first of the Sally Lockhart quartet of Victorian thrillers, was published in 1985.

He has won many awards for his children’s books, including the Carnegie Medal, the Guardian Children’s Book Award, the Smarties Prize, the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, the Whitbread Book of the Year Award and a CBE. His acclaimed fantasy trilogy, His Dark Materials (Scholastic Books in the UK and Knopf in the US), comprising Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass, has been published in thirty-nine languages, and even in graphic novel form (with the French publishers, Gallimard).

His other books for children and young adults include Clockwork, I Was a Rat!, and The New Cut Gang books; Thunderbolt’s Waxwork and The Gas-Fitter’s Ball.

In 2010 he published his controversial number-one bestseller The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ.

He was knighted in 2019 for services to literature.

(Author photo by KT Bruce)

Prasanna Puwanarajah is a writer and director for film, television and theatre.

He studied medicine at New College, Oxford, working extensively in the National Health Service and for Médicins du Monde before moving into writing and directing.

His debut play Nightwatchman premiered at the National Theatre, London, in 2011, where he has also worked as an actor.

He was appointed Artistic Associate at the Donmar Warehouse in 2020.

Charlotte Pyke is an actress and translator. She has translated several Russian plays, including The Seagull (as Seagull) for the Arcola, The Government Inspector, Philistines and The White Guard for the National Theatre; Enemies, The Suicide and The Bath-House for the Almeida Theatre; and Uncle Vanya for Presence Theatre Company. As an actress she trained at the St Petersburg Academy of Dramatic Art, and LAMDA. Theatre includes: Philistines and Burnt by the Sun (National Theatre) Television includes: Spooks, A Single Father, Heartbeat, Holby City and The Bill.