Contributors

Adela Raz served as Afghanistan's last Ambassador to the United States, and notably, she was the first woman to hold the position of Permanent Representative/Ambassador of Afghanistan to the United Nations. She has been a prominent advocate for women's leadership and a staunch supporter of multilateralism, democracy, and human rights. She was the first woman to serve as a Deputy Foreign Minister in Afghanistan. Currently, she is the Director of Afghanistan Policy Lab at Princeton University's School of Public and International Affairs, and a visiting fellow at Hudson Institute.

George Raveling was a legend in the worlds of sports, business and culture. Following a standout college basketball career, he became head coach for numerous college basketball teams, as well as assistant-coaching the US Olympic team. Later, Raveling joined Nike at the request of Phil Knight, where he became Director of International Basketball and played an integral role in signing Michael Jordan. He was inducted into the Naismtih Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Zoë Rankin grew up in Scotland. She studied International Relations with Arabic before going on to qualify as a teacher. She spent many years travelling in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa, and eventually settled in New Zealand. Her father was in mountain rescue in Scotland, and so her passion for the outdoors grew early. She spends a lot of time hiking and cycling with her husband and two young children in New Zealand, and the more remote locations inspired the idea for her debut novel The Vanishing Place.

Arthur Plotnik (1937 – August 28, 2020) was a photographer, journalist, author and librarian, known for being the editor of American Libraries magazine for fifteen years. Plotnik worked for the American Library Association for over twenty years.

David Potter is Francis W Kelsey Collegiate Professor of Greek and Roman History, and Professor of Greek and Latin at the University of Michigan. He is author of many scholarly articles, and the books Constantine the Emperorand The Victor's Crown: A History of Ancient Sport from Homer to Byzantium.

Aarathi Prasad is a biologist and writer. She has appeared on TV and radio programmes, including BBC Radio 4, Channel 4 and the Discovery Channel. She is the author of Like A Virgin: How Science is Redesigning the Rules of Sex. She lives in London.

Jeremy Purseglove was born in Africa and grew up in Singapore, Trinidad and Kent. Working as an environmentalist in the water industry, he helped pioneer a new approach to reducing floods which also preserved the beauty of rivers. This culminated in a TV series and influential book, Taming the Flood, first published in 1986 and revised in 2017. In 1989 he joined an engineering consultancy, where he worked around the world with engineers to promote practical development while enhancing wetlands, forests and flower-rich meadows.

Navi Radjou is an innovation and leadership advisor based in Silicon Valley. He is a Fellow at Judge Business School, University of Cambridge, and winner of the 2013 Thinkers50 Innovation Award.

In 2016, Navi Radjou was named on the Thinkers50 list of management thinkers 'most likely to shape the future of how organisations are managed and led'

Elena Poniatowska is Mexico's greatest living novelist. She currently lives in Coyoacán, a quiet suburb of Mexico City where the likes of Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera and an exiled Leon Trotsky famously resided. Fluent in English, French and Spanish, Poniatowska has published novels, non-fiction books and essays and been translated into over twenty languages. She is one of the founders of La Jornada, the feminist magazine Fern, publishing house Siglo XXI and Mexican national film institute Cineteca Nacional. For over fifty years she was a close friend of Leonora Carrington's, until the latter's death in 2011.

Miranda Popkey has written for Harper's Magazine, The New York Review of Books and The New Republic. She lives outside of Boston, Massachusetts. Topics of Conversation is her first novel.

Kate Pullinger was born in Canada, and moved to London in 1982 where she still lives. She is the author of Tiny Lies, a collection of short stories, and the novels When the Monster Dies and Weird Sister. She collaborated with Jane Campion on the novel of the film The Piano, and has written for film, television and radio. She is currently lecturer in Creative Writing and New Media at De Montfort University.

Kirstin Valdez Quade is the author of Night at the Fiestas, winner of the National Book Critics Circle's John Leonard Prize. The recipient of a "5 Under 35" award from the National Book Foundation, she teaches at Princeton University.

Dorit Rabinyan is bestselling author of the acclaimed Persian Brides and Strand of a Thousand Pearls. She is the recipient of the Itzhak Vinner Prize, The Prime Minister's Prize and the Jewish Quarterly Wingate Award. This book was named one of the ten best books of the year by Ha'aretz newspaper.

JS Rafaeli has worked as a copy writer, a brand consultant, researcher and booking agent. He currently plays in a band.