Emily Brontë (1818-1848) is best remembered for her only novel Wuthering Heights. She was the second eldest of the three Brontë sisters - between Charlotte and Anne - who spent their entire lives in Haworth, North Yorkshire.

Peter Brook (1925–2022) was one of the most influential and important figures in twentieth-century theatre. Outstanding in a career full of remarkable achievements were his productions of Titus Andronicus (1955) with Laurence Olivier, King Lear (1962) with Paul Scofield, and The Marat/Sade (1964) and A Midsummer Night's Dream (1970), both for the Royal Shakespeare Company.

After moving to Paris and establishing the International Centre for Theatre Research in 1970 and the International Centre for Theatre Creation when he opened the Bouffes du Nord in 1974, he produced a series of events which pushed at the boundaries of theatre, such as Conference of the Birds (1976), The Ik (1975), The Mahabharata (1985) and The Tragedy of Carmen (1981) to name but a few.

His films include Lord of the Flies (1963), King Lear (1970), The Mahabharata (1989), Tell Me Lies (restored 2013) and Meetings with Remarkable Men (restored 2017).

His hugely influential books, from The Empty Space (1968) to The Quality of Mercy (2013), Tip of the Tongue (2017) and Playing by Ear (2019), have been published in many languages throughout the world.

Deborah Bruce is a writer and theatre director. Her plays include: Dixon and Daughters (Clean Break/National Theatre, 2023); Raya (Hampstead Theatre, 2021); The House They Grew Up In (Minerva Theatre, Chichester, 2017); The Distance (Orange Tree Theatre and Sheffield Crucible, 2014; a finalist for the 2012-13 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize); Same (National Theatre Connections Festival 2014); and Godchild (Hampstead Theatre, 2013).

Michael Bruce is a composer and lyricist who has written scores and songs for many theatre productions around the UK, in London and New York.

After training at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA) he worked as a musical director and musician. In 2007 he won the Notes for the Stage prize for songwriting run by the Stage newspaper, which led to a concert of his musical-theatre work being staged at the Apollo Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue. Following the success of this, his album Unwritten Songs was released and debuted at number one on the iTunes vocal chart.

He has held the position of Composer-in-Residence at both the Bush Theatre and the Donmar Warehouse in London. His work at the Donmar has included scores for The Vote, Privacy, Coriolanus, Trelawny of the Wells, Berenice, Philadelphia, Here I Come!, The Physicists and The Recruiting Officer; at the National Theatre: Sunset at the Villa Thalia, The Beaux Stratagem, Man and Superman, Strange Interlude and Men Should Weep; and at the Royal Shakespeare Company: The Two Gentlemen of Verona and Candide. He has written scores for shows at the Old Vic, Hampstead Theatre, the Finborough Theatre and the Lyric Hammersmith, and in the West End his credits include Much Ado About Nothing, Relatively Speaking, Hay Fever and Noises Off. On Broadway his work has included Les Liaisons Dangereuses and The Winslow Boy.

Michael has worked extensively as an arranger, orchestrator and conductor – and is also incredibly proud to have played table tennis for Scotland in his youth.

Author photo by Steven McIntosh

Pascal Brullemans is a French-Canadian playwright. His plays include: Amaryllis (Louise-LaHaye Award for Young Audiences, 2013), Little Witch, L’armoire, Isberg and Monstres. He lives in Montréal.

Jake Brunger is a playwright and musical-theatre writer. His plays include Four Play (Theatre503, London, 2016); Brave New Worlds (Nabokov/Soho); People Like Us (Pleasance/TS Eliot US/UK Exchange: Vineyard, New York); Chavs (Lyric Hammersmith Studio); ’AVE IT (Old Vic Tunnels); Pub Quiz (Manchester Royal Exchange Studio, which he also directed) and Sam’s Game (Lakeside Arts Centre).

As a musical-theatre writer, with his collaborator composer Pippa Cleary, his credits (as book writer and lyricist) include Treasure Island (Singapore Repertory Theatre); Prodigy (National Youth Music Theatre/St James); The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 ¾ (Leicester Curve); Red Riding Hood (Singapore Repertory Theatre/Pleasance); The Great British Soap Opera (Edinburgh/Jermyn Street); and Jet Set Go! (Edinburgh/ Theatre503/Jermyn Street). He co-wrote the lyrics for The Snow Gorilla at the Rose Theatre, Kingston.

Michael Bryher is a director and theatre-maker. He originally trained as an actor at the National Youth Theatre and LAMDA, and has since worked as a director and facilitator at many theatres across the country. He is the Artistic Director of Dumbshow, an ensemble company that he co-founded in 2007. He is the editor of National Youth Theatre Monologues: 75 Speeches for Auditions.

Nathan Bryon is a writer and actor.

As an actor, he is best known for playing Jamie Bennett in the BBC Three comedy series Some Girls, and Joey Ellis in the ITV sitcom Benidorm.

He has written for critically acclaimed Cbeebies' animation Rastamouse, BAFTA award-winning Swashbuckle and on all three series of Cbeebies' BAFTA-nominated Apple Tree House.

He has written plays including Mixed Brain (Edinburgh Fringe Festival, 2017) and Dexter and Winter's Detective Agency (Paines Plough & Theatr Clwyd tour, 2019).

Bill Bryson was born in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1951. His bestselling books include The Road to Little Dribbling, Notes from a Small Island, A Walk in the Woods, One Summer and The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid. In a national poll, Notes from a Small Island was voted the book that best represents Britain.

His acclaimed work of popular science, A Short History of Nearly Everything, won the Aventis Prize and the Descartes Prize, and was the biggest-selling non-fiction book of its decade in the UK. His latest book, The Body: A Guide for Occupants, was shortlisted for the Royal Society Science Book Prize and is an international best-seller.

Bill Bryson was Chancellor of Durham University from 2005 to 2011. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society. He lives in England.

Melissa Bubnic is a writer for stage and screen. Her plays include Boys Will Be Boys (Headlong and Bush Theatre, Sydney Theatre Company); Beached (Marlowe Theatre and Soho Theatre, Melbourne Theatre Company, and Griffin Theatre Company; winner of the Patrick White Award, 2010); Mariage Blanc (Sydney Theatre Company) and Stop. Rewind. (Red Stitch Actors' Theatre, 2010, 2012).