Franz Kafka (1883–1924) was a German-speaking Bohemian novelist and short-story writer based in Prague, who is widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His best known works include the novella The Metamorphosis and novels The Trial and The Castle.

Paul Kalburgi is a British playwright and screenwriter. Awarded a Master of Arts (Writing for Screen & Stage) by Regent's University, London, he also studied in the Writer's Program at UCLA. Paul has written and produced content for television in the UK, USA, Canada, and New Zealand, and his plays have been staged in London, New York, and Dallas. In addition to his writing projects, Paul facilitates playwriting courses and workshops internationally and proudly serves as an Ambassador for the Dramatists Guild of America.

He is the author of The Writer's Toolkit (Nick Hern Books, 2020).

Stephen Karam is an American playwright whose plays include: The Humans (Chicago, 2014; off-Broadway, 2015; Broadway, 2016; winner of a 2016 Tony Award, Drama Critics’ Circle Award and an Obie Award); Sons of the Prophet (2011; a finalist for the 2012 Pulitzer Prize and the winner of the 2012 Drama Critics Circle, Outer Critics Circle, Lucille Lortel and Hull-Warriner awards for Best Play); and Speech & Debate (off-Broadway, 2007; Trafalgar Studios, West End, 2017).

Andrew Keatley studied English and Drama at Royal Holloway, University of London, and Acting at Webber Douglas. His plays include Alligators (Hampstead Downstairs, 2016); The Gathered Leaves (Park Theatre, London, 2015); Go To Your God Like A Soldier (Old Vic Tunnels, London/Underbelly, Edinburgh); Colourings (Old Red Lion, Islington); Care (Bush); Why Don’t We Multiply? and Weapon of Choice (Theatre503).

Ho Ka Kei (AKA Jeff Ho) is a Toronto-based theatre artist, originally from Hong Kong. His works include Iphigenia and the Furies (On Taurian Land), Antigone:方, and trace.

He has held residencies with the Stratford Festival, Tarragon Theatre, Nightswimming, Cahoots, the Banff Playwrights Lab, and Factory Theatre. Jeff has received a Toronto Theatre Critics' Award for Best New Canadian Play, the Jon Kaplan Legacy Fund Award for Young Canadian Playwright, and has been the recipient of a Harold Award. He has also been nominated four times for the Dora Mavor Moore Award, both as a performer and as a playwright. He is a graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada.

Florence Keith-Roach is a writer, actor and director working across theatre, television and film, who has been named a ‘rising star of the London theatre scene’ (Evening Standard).

Her debut play, Love To Love To Love You, which she wrote, directed and acted in, transferred to VAULT Festival in 2015, where it sold out and was named one of Another Magazine’s ‘top ten things to do’. A work-in-progress version of her second play, Eggs, opened at the Edinburgh Free Fringe in August 2015. It received five-star reviews and was described as ‘Honest. Human. Real. Frank. Funny. Achingly relevant’ by Broadway Baby. She has written for Grazia, The Observer and Little White Lies about her experiences as a writer, director and actor in both film and theatre. She is the founder of Orphee Productions, a female-led collective dedicated to telling stories that challenge gender preconceptions. Her short film, Frenching the Bully, which she co-wrote, directed and acted with Freddy Syborn, is available to watch online. She has a lead role in the feature film, Here Lies, which was awarded the Best European Independent Feature Film of 2015.

Author photo by Lily Bertrand-Webb.

Rosie Kellett's writing credits include Primadonna (VAULT Festival 2016); Skint, developed with the support of the National Theatre Young Studio, supported by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation (VAULT Festival 2015, winner of the Pick of the Week and Festival Spirit Awards); Morker (Southwark Playhouse, developed on the Almeida Theatre's Writers' Development Programme); and Peak (Old Red Lion Theatre).

Ian Kelly is an actor and writer. He has written several historical biographies, including Casanova (Sunday Times Biography of the Year, 2008), Mr Foote’s Other Leg; Comedy, Tragedy and Murder in Georgian London (Winner, Theatre Book of the Year, 2013), Beau Brummell (shortlisted for the Marsh Commonwealth Biography Prize), Cooking for Kings, A Life of Antonin Carême (Radio 4 Book of the Week), and the life of Vivienne Westwood, co-written with Dame Vivienne.

As a dramatist, Ian’s stage adaptation of Mr Foote’s Other Leg was premiered at Hampstead Theatre in 2015 in a production directed by Richard Eyre starring Simon Russell Beale, and his adaptation of the Carême biography Cooking for Kings ran Off-Broadway in 2004 and 2006. Beau Brummell was adapted as a BBC film with Simon Bent, starring Hugh Bonneville and James Purefoy.

As an actor, film work includes Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I and Part II as Hermione’s father, Howards End, Creation, In Love and War, Closed and the Russian films Admiral Kolchak and Alexei Balabanov’s War (Best Actor Nomination, Montreal Film Festival).

Theatre work includes The Pitmen Painters (National Theatre, Broadway, West End and Newcastle Live; Performance of the Year, NE Culture Awards), A Busy Day (West End, Bristol Old Vic), Arcadia (Manchester), Cooking for Kings and Beau Brummell (US premieres, Off-Broadway), Henry V and Twelfth Night with the English Shakespeare Company and seasons with, amongst others, Theatr Clwyd and Salisbury Playhouse.

Television work includes Downton Abbey, Sensitive Skin, In a Land of Plenty, Cold Lazarus, Silent Witness, Drop the Dead Donkey, Time Trumpet, Catherine Cookson’s The Moth, Just William and Underworld.