Brit Bennett, author of The Vanishing Half (Dialogue Books) – Born and raised in Southern California, Brit Bennett graduated from Stanford University and later earned her MFA in fiction at the University of Michigan, where she won a Hopwood Award in Graduate Short Fiction as well as the 2014 Hurston/Wright Award for College Writers. Her work is featured in The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, The Paris Review, and Jezebel. She is one of the National Book Foundation's 2016 5 Under 35 honourees.
Jean Menzies, author of Greek Myths, illustrated by Katie Ponder (DK) – Jean Menzies is an Edinburgh born and based author and currently conducting her PhD research in ancient history at The University of Roehampton, where she also teaches undergraduate students. She has completed both an undergraduate and postgraduate degree in classics at the University of Edinburgh specialising in Greek literature, Athenian law, Greek Mythology, and the history of women in Classical Greece. In addition to this, Jean produces the podcast 'That's Ancient History', which explores antiquity from its history to its place in today’s world. You may also know Jean from her YouTube channel BookishThoughts where she reviews books, provides study tips, discusses sustainable living and more.
Kiley Reid, author of Such a Fun Age (Bloomsbury) – Kiley Reid earned her MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop, where she was awarded the Truman Capote Fellowship and taught creative writing with a focus on race and class. Such a Fun Age, her first book, was both a Sunday Times and a New York Times bestseller and was longlisted for the 2020 Booker Prize. She lives in Philadelphia.
Douglas Stuart, author of Shuggie Bain (Pan Macmillan) – Douglas Stuart was born and raised in Glasgow. After graduating from the Royal College of Art, he moved to New York, where he began his design career. He has led design teams for Calvin Klein, Banana Republic and Jack Spade.