Contributors

Ruth Rendell was one of the great crime writers. Her books – notable for their careful psychological observation, as well as their gripping plots – have sold over 20 million copies worldwide, and she won numerous awards, including the Crime Writers' Association Cartier Diamond Dagger for sustained excellence in crime writing. In 1996 she was awarded the CBE and in 1997 became a Life Peer. Ruth Rendell died in May 2015.

Richard Restak (born 1942) is an American neurologist, neuropsychiatrist, author and professor.

Derek Raymond was born Robin Cook in 1931. His novels include A State of Denmark, The Crust on its Uppers, I Was Dora Suarez and How the Dead Live, which was made into a film. The son of a textile magnate, he dropped out of Eton aged sixteen and spent much of his early career among criminals and was employed at various times as a pornographer, organiser of illegal gambling, money launderer, pig-slaughterer and minicab driver. He died in London in 1994.

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.

Bora Lee Reed was born in Seoul, South Korea and lives in California. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing, an MA in Theology and a BA in English. In 2023, she was selected as a Reece's LitUp Fellow. Song for Another Home is her first novel.

Marcie Rendon is an enrolled member of the White Earth Nation, an award-winning author and a community arts activist. In 2018, Rendon was recognised as a 50 over 50 Change-maker by Minneapolis AARP and Pollen. She was awarded the McKnight Distinguished Artist Award in 2020. Rendon's debut novel and the first instalment in the Cash Blackbear series, Murder on the Red River, won the Pinckley Prize for Best Debut Novel. She lives in Minneapolis.

Richard Poplak is a Johannesburg-based South African author, journalist and filmmaker who focuses on corporate criminality, race and equity issues. A Senior Contributor to the Daily Maverick, he is the author of the graphic novel Kenk, and co-director of the film, Influence.

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.

Marion Poschmann was born in Essen in 1969. A prize-winning poet and novelist, she has won both of Germany's premier poetry prizes, has been twice shortlisted for the German Book Prize and won the 2013 Wilhelm Raabe Literature Prize.

Padgett Powell is a novelist who has taught writing at the University of Florida for over thirty years. His books include his dazzling first novel Edisto and most recently The Interrogative Mood.