born in 1979 in Tirana, Albania, studied literature and philosophy at the Sapienza in Rome. She is a professor of political theory at the London School of Economics and regularly contributes to the »Guardian« on sociopolitical issues. In 2021, she published her memoir »Free: Coming of Age at the End
Abdulrazak Gurnah was born in Zanzibar [now Tanzania] in 1948. He went to Great Britain at the age of eighteen after the Zanzibar Revolution in 1964. He first studied at Christ Church College in Canterbury and then at the University of Kent, where he earned his doctorate in 1982 with
Laura Carlin was born in Hertfordshire, England in 1980. She graduated from the Royal College of Art in 2004 and has since worked as an illustrator and ceramicist. She has illustrated numerous children’s and young adult books, for which she primarily uses watercolors, acrylics, and colored pencils. In »The Promise«
Jay Bernard was born in the London Borough of Croydon in 1988. They appeared at BFI Flare and the London LGBTQ film festival as a film programmer and also worked at the research library and archive of the Statewatch civil liberties agency. Jay Bernard’s first collection of poems »Surge« [2019]
Hana Tooke was born in Alkmaar, Holland in 1985 and moved to England in the late 90s. A singer-songwriter since the age of twelve, she graduated from Plymouth University with a degree in music performance. She wrote her first fairy tale for her bachelor thesis. She earned her master’s degree
Sam Thompson was born in London in 1978. His debut »Communion Town« [2012] was nominated for the Man Booker Prize in the year it was published. Although the novel is subtitled »A City in Ten Chapters«, its multidimensionality can hardly be limited to that of a city novel, but rather
Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi was born in Mengo, Uganda, in 1967. During the years of Idi Amin’s tyranny, her father, a banker, was imprisoned and brutalized. Makumbi grew up with her aunt, first in Nakasero, then in Kololo. She began writing plays for various competitions while still at school. After graduating
Bernardine Evaristo was born as the fourth of eight children to an English mother and Nigerian father in London in 1959. She studied drama at Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance and gained a PhD in Creative Writing at Goldsmiths, University of London. She was a co-founder of the
Zadie Smith was born in London in 1975 and studied English literature at King’s College, Cambridge. Her international breakthrough as a writer came with her debut novel »White Teeth« [2000]. The novel follows Englishman Archibald and the Bangladeshi Samad, who were once comrades in World War II. When they meet
born in Zestafoni, now Georgia, in 1965 as Grigori Chkhartishvili. He has been publishing historical crime novels under his pseudonym since 1998 and quickly became one of the most widely read authors in Russia. His books have been translated into more than forty languages. As an opponent of the current
Fatima Bhutto was born in Kabul in 1982. She grew up in Syria and Karachi with her father, who lived in exile during the military regime of General Zia-ul-Haq. Fatima Bhutto is the granddaughter of former Pakistani Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and niece of Benazir Bhutto. During their terms
