Kate Atkinson won the 1995 Whitbread Book of the Year Award with her first novel, Behind the Scenes at the Museum. She is the author of other best-selling novels and Abandonment, her first full-length play, premiered at the Traverse Theatre in 2000.

Mohammad Al Attar has been a member of the Theatre Studio Group in Damascus since 2006 and works on a variety of projects as a dramaturg, including productions at the Syrian Opera House.

Jane Austen (1775–1817) was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction set among the landed gentry have earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature.

Josh Azouz is a playwright, screenwriter and theatre director. His plays include: Once Upon a Time in Nazi Occupied Tunisia (Almeida Theatre, London, 2021) ;Victoria's Knickers (National Youth Theatre, 2018); Buggy Baby (Yard Theatre, London, 2018); and The Mikvah Project (Yard Theatre, 2015).

Sylvia Backemeyer is Director of Learning Resources at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, and is the editor of several books on art and design.

David Baddiel is a comedian, author, screenwriter and television presenter.

His debut play, God's Dice, was premiered at Soho Theatre in 2019.

Samuel Bailey is a playwright whose debut play, Shook, was the winner of the 2019 Papatango New Writing Prize, and was premiered by Papatango at Southwark Playhouse in 2019, followed by a UK tour.

His other plays include Sorry, You're Not a Winner (Paines Plough, 2022).

He was the recipient of the Times Breakthrough Award at the South Bank Sky Arts Awards 2021.

Sam Bain is a TV writer, playwright and novelist. Together with Jesse Armstrong, he co-created and co-wrote the Channel 4 sitcom Peep Show from 2003–2015. Peep Show has won two British Comedy Awards, two Royal Television Society Awards, a BAFTA and the Writers Guild of Great Britain Award for Comedy Writers of the Year. Also with Armstrong, he created Fresh Meat, a team-written comedy-drama about university students, which won two RTS awards and a British Comedy Award. In 2014 Sam and Jesse wrote Babylon, a six-part hour-long comedy-drama series for Channel 4 and the Sundance Channel. The feature-length pilot was directed by Danny Boyle. The duo’s other writing includes the feature film Four Lions (2010), co-written with Chris Morris, which premiered at Sundance and won the BAFTA for Outstanding Debut.

Sam’s first solo series, three-part comedy thriller Ill Behaviour, was screened on BBC2 and Showtime in 2017. He adapted his novel, Yours Truly, Pierre Stone, for a four-part Radio 4 series broadcast in 2017.

His debut play, The Retreat, was premiered at Park Theatre, London, in 2017.

Annie Baker is a leading American playwright whose plays include: Infinite Life (Linda Gross Theater, New York, and National Theatre, London, 2023); The Antipodes (Signature Theatre, New York, 2017; National Theatre, London, 2019); John (Off-Broadway, 2015; National Theatre, London, 2018); The Flick (Off-Broadway, 2013; National Theatre, London, 2013; Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Susan Smith Blackburn Award, Obie Award for Playwriting), Circle Mirror Transformation (Obie Award for Best New American Play, Drama Desk nomination for Best New American Play), The Aliens (Obie Award for Best New American Play), Body Awareness (Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle nominations for Best Play/Emerging Playwright), and an adaptation of Chekhov's Uncle Vanya (Drama Desk nomination for Best Revival).

Her plays have been produced at over 150 theatres throughout the U.S., and have been produced internationally in over a dozen countries. Other recent honors include a Guggenheim Fellowship, American Academy of Arts and Letters Award, Hull-Warriner Award, Steinberg Award, and the Cullman Fellowship at the New York Public Library.