Contributors

Maxime Rovere is a philosopher who has dedicated his life to studying the ways we interact, through both the history of philosophy (Spinoza and others in the Early Enlightenment) as well as in contemporary ethics, and now in turning his attention to the scourge of all ages: idiots. Associate Researcher at the École Normale Supérieure (Lyon), he lectures regularly at the universities of Buenos Aires and Montreal and was Council of Humanities Visiting Fellow at Princeton University in 2019.

Paul Dalla Rosa is a writer based in Melbourne, Australia. His stories have appeared in Granta, The Paris Review, McSweeney's, Meanjin and New York Tyrant. In 2019, his story 'Comme' was shortlisted for the Sunday Times Short Story Award. An Exciting and Vivid Inner Life is his debut collection.

Michael Rosen is one of the best-loved figures in the children's book world, renowned for his work as a poet, performer, broadcaster and educational campaigner. His bestselling books include We're Going on a Bear Hunt, Michael Rosen's Sad Book and Quick Let's Get Out of Here. His books for adults include Good Ideas, how to be your child's and your own best teacher and his memoir, So They Call You Pisher!. He was Children's Laureate from 2007-2009, and received the Eleanor Farjeon Award for services to children's literature in 1997. He is Professor of Children's Literature at Goldsmiths University of London. His book to help children (or anyone) write poems is What is Poetry?

Jodi Rodgers is an Australian sexologist, counsellor and special education teacher with 30 years of experience working within the education, disability and sexuality fields. Her private practice 'Birds and Bees' helps neurodivergent people create love and connection. She is the on-screen relationship therapist for Netflix's 'Love on the Spectrum', a feel-good dating show for people with autism, broadcast in seven languages.

James A. Robinson is a political scientist and economist and the Florence Professor of Government at Harvard University, and a world-renowned expert on Latin America and Africa. He received the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2024 for his work on global inequality.

Judith Rodin is president of the Rockefeller Foundation, a highly influential philanthropic organisation created 'to promote the well-being of mankind throughout the world.'
As Provost of Yale she was the first woman to serve as president of an Ivy League institution, and has been recognised by Forbes as one of world's 100 most powerful women.

Barnaby Rogerson is an author, publisher and journalist. Together with his partner Rose Baring, he runs Eland Publishing, which specializes in keeping the classics of travel literature in print. He has also written dozens of travel articles, book reviews and historical essays on various North African and Islamic themes, for Vanity Fair, Cornucopia, Conde Nast Traveller, Geographical, Traveller, Guardian, Independent,Telegraph, House & Garden, Harpers & Queen and the TLS.

Phil Rosenzweig is a professor at IMD in Lausanne, Switzerland, where he works with executives from leading companies on questions of strategy and organization. He is a native of Northern California, where he worked for six years at Hewlett-Packard. Prior to joining IMD, he was an assistant professor at Harvard Business School. His 2007 book, The Halo Effect, was lauded by Nassim Nicholas Taleb as "one of the most important management books of all time."

Rudi Rotthier is a Flemish journalist and author. In 2004 he won the Bob den Uyl book prize for travel writing for The Qur'an Route.

Bethan Roberts was born in Abingdon. Her first novel The Pools was published in 2007 and won a Jerwood/Arvon Young Writers' Award. Her second, The Good Plain Cook, published in 2008, was serialized on BBC Radio 4's Book at Bedtime and was chosen as one of Time Out's books of the year. Two further novels, My Policeman and Mother Island, followed. Bethan has worked in television documentary, and has taught Creative Writing at Chichester University and Goldsmiths College, London. She lives in Brighton with her family.

Knud Romer, the author of this autobiographical novel, was born in 1960 in Falster, 'a town so small that it is over before it starts'. His studies include the theory of fiction and he has written on subjects as diverse as mint lozenges and auto-erotic suicide. When not writing, he acts. His credits include The Idiots by Lars von Trier and Allegro by Christopher Boe.