Contributors

Andrew Ziminski is a stonemason, church conservator and author living and working in Frome, Somerset. He has four decades of experience working on some of the greatest cathedrals and churches in Britain, including the tower of Salisbury Cathedral and the dome of St Paul's in London. He is a SPAB William Morris Craft Fellow, a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, and conservation advisor to the Salisbury Diocesan advisory committee for the care of churches. He is the author of The Stonemason: A History of Building Britain.

Sol Yurick was born in 1925 in New York. The son of Jewish immigrants, Yurick grew up in a politically active working-class household. He enlisted in the Army during the Second World War, then studied literature before taking a job in New York City's welfare department, where he became familiar with the children of welfare families, many of whom belonged to youth gangs. This experience formed the basis for The Warriors, his first and best-known novel. He was a lifelong social activist and lived his whole life in New York; he died in Brooklyn in 2013.

Dave Zeltserman's first 'badass out of prison' novel, Small Crimes, received widespread acclaim, with NPR naming it one of the 5 best crime and mystery novels of 2008 and the Washington Post naming it one of the best books of 2008. Dave's second 'badass out of prison' novel, Pariah, was named by the Washington Post as one of the best books of 2009. Dave lives in the Boston area with his wife, Judy; is a die-hard Patriots and Red Sox fan; and when he's not writing crime fiction he spends his time studying martial arts, and holds a black belt in Kung Fu.

Stefan Zweig (1981-1942) was the most widely translated writer of the 1920s and 1930s. A Jewish pacifist, he was driven by the Nazis into exile, first in London, then in Brazil, where he committed suicide in a pact with his wife. The manuscript for The Post Office Girl was found among his papers. Zweig's other novels include Beware of Pity and Chess Story.

Lea Ypi is Professor in Political Theory at the London School of Economics, and an Honorary Professor in Philosophy at the Australian National University. Her latest book, Free, a memoir exploring freedom and her childhood in post-soviet Albania, was the winner of the Ondaatje Prize, a Sunday Times Book of the Year and has been translated into thirty languages.

Paolo Zannoni has spent decades making deals at the highest levels of business and finance. Currently Vice Chairman at Prada Holding Spa, having spent two decades as a partner at Goldman Sachs, he was formerly president of FIAT USA, chairman of the board of Prysmian S.p.A., Autogrill S.p.A. and Dolce & Gabbana Holding, and a fellow at the Yale Centre for International Finance from 2016 to 2018.

He is the author of MONEY AND PROMISES, chosen by Martin Wolf (Financial Times) as one of the best business books of 2024.

James Wyllie is an author, award-winning screenwriter and broadcaster. He is author of Goering and Goering: Hitler's Henchman and His Anti-Nazi Brother and The Codebreakers: The true story of the secret intelligence team that changed the course of the First World War. He has worked on numerous films for the BBC, Film4 and Talkback among others, and has written for a number of TV drama series, including The Bill, The Tribe, and Atlantis High.

Dimitris Xygalatas is an anthropologist and cognitive scientist. He runs the experimental anthropology lab at the University of Connecticut. This is his first trade book.

Kira Yarmysh has been Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny's press secretary since 2014. In connection with her work for Navalny she has been arrested several times and spent fifty days in prison, and is currently living abroad in exile. This is her debut novel.

N Quentin Woolf is a writer and broadcaster, and runs a number of literary groups, including Writers' Mutual and The Writers' Lab. He is the founder of The Brick Lane Book Group, teaches at the Idler Academy and since 2012 has run a writers' retreat in France. Woolf's short fiction has been published and translated internationally, and performed at Sadler's Wells. He has featured in various guises on BBC Radio 4, runs The Wireless Reader podcast and presents a weekly talk-show for Londonist.com, which attracts around 13,000 visits per day and a loyal following on iTunes.

Aidan Truhen is the pen name of a writer gone AWOL. He is not your grandmother's crime novelist. The Price You Pay is the first Aidan Truhen novel. There'll be more, though, so you'll want to save up. That or move somewhere they don't sell books. Your call.

Laura Wyatt-Smith is a digital wellness educator, professional coach and qualified teacher with twenty years' experience in some of the UK's foremost youth organisations, including The Prince's Trust, the Sex Education Forum and The Scout Association. She is the host of Childhood Heroes, a podcast about the big issues affecting modern childhood.