Contributors

Jane Renton is a former presenter of BBC2's Money Programme. She currently teaches public speaking and media presentation skills to senior executives and others in the public eye, particularly in the area of crisis management. She also writes about business and finance for a number of publications and organisations, including The Economist Intelligence Unit.

Patrick Forsyth runs Touchstone Training & Consultancy, an independent firm based in the U.K. specialising in marketing consultancy, research and training on marketing issues, sales, and communication and management skills.
He is a consultant of more than twenty five years experience and was a Director of a major consulting organisation before starting his own firm in 1990. Previously he began his career in publishing, holding sales, sales management and marketing positions, subsequently working for a management institute before moving into consultancy.
His work has spanned many industries, and also many countries. In training he conducts tailored in-company courses, individual tutorials and is also a conference speaker. He also conducts "public" seminars and has presented regularly for a variety of organisers including The Chartered Institute of Marketing and similar bodies overseas.
He is the author of many articles and books. His successful business, self-help and career books include 100 Great Presentation Ideas (Marshall Cavendish) and Successful Time Management (Kogan Page). He has titles translated into twenty four different languages. His most treasured review said: Patrick has a lucid and elegant style of writing which allows him to present information in a way that is organised, focused and easy to apply (Professional Marketing Magazine).

Geoffrey Strachan is a noted translator of French and German literature into English. He is best known for his renderings of the novels of French-Russian writer Andreï Makine. In addition, he has also translated works by Yasmina Réza, Nathacha Appanah, Elie Wiesel and Jérôme Ferrari. Uniquely, he has won both the Scott-Moncrieff Prize (for translation from French) and the Schlegel-Tieck Prize (for translation from German).

Born in Santa Fé, Argentina in 1937, Juan José Saer was the leading Argentinian writer of the post-Borges generation. In 1968, he moved to Paris and taught literature at the university in Rennes, Brittany. In 1988, Juan José Saer was awarded Spain's prestigious Nadal Prize for The Event. His work is translated into all major languages and includes The Witness, Nobody Nothing Never and The Investigation, also published by Serpent's Tail. Saer died in July 2005.

Sandra Koa Wing studied life history research at the University of Sussex, where she became Mass Observation's first Development Officer. She died in May 2007 at the age of 28.

Peter Underwood (16 May 1923 – 26 November 2014) was an English author, broadcaster and parapsychologist. Underwood was born in Letchworth, Hertfordshire. Described as 'an indefatigable ghost hunter', he wrote many books which surveyed alleged hauntings within the United Kingdom – beginning the trend of comprehensive regional 'guides' to (purportedly) haunted places. One of his well-known investigations concerned Borley Rectory, which he also wrote about.

Robert Alexander Farrar Thurman (born August 3, 1941) is an American Buddhist author and academic who has written, edited, and translated several books on Tibetan Buddhism. He is the father of actress Uma Thurman. He was the Je Tsongkhapa Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies at Columbia University, before retiring in June 2019.

He also is the co-founder and president of the Tibet House US New York. He translated the Vimalakirti Sutra from the Tibetan Kanjur into English.

He is the recipient of India's highly prestigious award Padma Shri 2020 for his work in the field of literature and education.

Terry Southern (May 1, 1924 – October 29, 1995) was an American novelist, essayist, screenwriter, and university lecturer, noted for his distinctive satirical style. Part of the Paris postwar literary movement in the 1950s and a companion to Beat writers in Greenwich Village, Southern was also at the center of Swinging London in the 1960s and helped to change the style and substance of American films in the 1970s. He briefly wrote for Saturday Night Live in the 1980s.

Southern's dark and often absurdist style of satire helped to define the sensibilities of several generations of writers, readers, directors and film goers. He is credited by journalist Tom Wolfe as having invented New Journalism with the publication of "Twirling at Ole Miss" in Esquire in February 1963. Southern's reputation was established with the publication of his comic novels Candy and The Magic Christian and through his gift for writing memorable film dialogue as evident in Dr. Strangelove, The Loved One, The Cincinnati Kid, and The Magic Christian. His work on Easy Rider helped create the independent film movement of the 1970s.

Charles Hutchins Hapgood was an American college professor and author who became one of the best known advocates of the pseudoarchaeological claim of a rapid and recent pole shift with catastrophic results.