Zia Ahmed is a poet and playwright from North West London. He was shortlisted for Young Poet Laureate for London 2015/16 and is a former Roundhouse Poetry Slam champion. His plays include I Wanna Be Yours (Paines Plough & Tamasha, 2019).

Joan Aiken (1924–2004) was an English writer, specialising in thrillers and children's alternative history novels. In 1999 she was awarded an MBE for her services to children's literature.

Mike Alfreds has been directing plays for more than fifty years. In the 1970s he founded Shared Experience, and has since worked for the National Theatre, Shakespeare's Globe, the Royal Shakespeare Company and also extensively abroad. He is hugely respected within the profession.

Roger Allam is an award-winning English actor, best known for roles in the original London production of the stage musical Les Misérables, the TV series Endeavour, as well as roles in the HBO series Game of Thrones and as Peter Mannion MP in The Thick of It.

Timothy Allsop is an actor and writer who trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where he was a winner of the Michael Bryant Verse-Speaking Award and Lilian Baylis Award. His film and television acting credits include The Mummy, Captain Phillips and Detectorists (BBC), and his extensive stage work includes Helen (Shakespeare's Globe), Thérèse Raquin (National Theatre), Our American Cousin (Finborough Theatre), The Picture of Dorian Gray and Strangers on a Train (English Theatre Frankfurt), the lead in Richard III (Guildford Shakespeare Company) and Murder in the Cathedral (Oxford Playhouse). His novel The Smog is published by Amper & Sand.

Hans Christian Andersen (1805–1875) was a Danish author, a prolific writer of plays, travelogues, novels, and poems. He is perhaps best remembered for his fairy tales, including 'The Emperor's New Clothes', 'The Little Mermaid', 'The Snow Queen', 'The Ugly Duckling', 'Thumbelina' and many others.