Frances Hodgson Burnett

Frances Hodgson Burnett (1849–1924) was born in England and moved to the United States as a teenager. She is best remembered for her children’s novels Little Lord Fauntleroy, A Little Princess and The Secret Garden.

Oscar Wilde

Famed for his brilliant wit, Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) was a prolific writer and one of the most successful playwrights of Victorian Britain, as well as a champion for the values of Aestheticism.

Horacio Castellanos Moya

Horacio Castellanos Moya was born in 1957 in Honduras, but grew up in El Salvador. He became famous in 1997 with the publication of his novel El asco (Nausea), because of which he was forced into exile. Before that he had already lived in Canada, Costa Rica, Spain and Mexico, where he worked as a journalist and writer. After spending two years in Frankfurt am Main, he is now living in exile as part of the City of Asylum project in Pittsburgh, USA.

Simone Benmussa

Born in Tunisia, Simone Benmussa (1932–2001) was an influential French theatre director, stage designer and playwright. Adapting to the theatre works by Henry James, Sigmund Freud and Virginia Woolf, among others, she attracted an international audience for her innovative and lively approach to drama.

Ivan Goncharov

Ivan Goncharov (1812–91) was a Russian official, novelist, critic and travel writer, who is best remembered for his masterpiece Oblomov.

E.T.A. Hoffmann

E.T.A. Hoffmann (1776–1822) was a composer, caricaturist, critic and author. His works, often bizarre and grotesque, were hugely influential on writers such as Dostoevsky, Kafka and Poe.

Ito Ogawa

Born in 1973, Ito Ogawa is the author of several children’s books. The Restaurant of Love Regained, her first novel, is a bestseller in Japan and has been adapted into a successful movie. Ito runs a hugely popular website where she offers daily recipes of Japanese cuisine.

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Inspired by the Puritan past of his native New England, Nathaniel Hawthorne became a pivotal figure in the history of American literature, notably with his masterpiece, The Scarlet Letter.

Niccolò Machiavelli

Niccolò Machiavelli (1469–1527) was a quintessential Renaissance man. Interested in music, poetry and theatre, he was above all a diplomat and a historian. He is most famous for his political treatise The Prince, which has become a cornerstone of modern political philosophy.

Catherine Hall

Catherine Hall was born in the Lake District and worked in documentary-film production and international peacebuilding before becoming a freelance writer and editor for charities specializing in human rights and development. She is the author of two previous novels: the critically and commercially successful Days of Grace and The Proof of Love, which won the prestigious Green Carnation Prize.

Read an interview with Catherine Hall here