Contributors

Katharina Vestre is an embryologist who currently works as a Doctoral Research Fellow at the University of Oslo Department of Biosciences. The Making of You is her first book.

Caroline (Carrie) Vout is Professor of Classics at the University of Cambridge. She is also Director of Cambridge's Museum of Classical Archaeology and has curated exhibitions at the Fitzwilliam Museum, and at the Henry Moore Institute in Leeds. Carrie has appeared on Woman's Hour and In Our Time, and contributed pieces to magazines such as Apollo, Minerva, History Today, and to Times Literary Supplement and Observer. In 2012 and 2013, she chaired the judging panel of the John D. Criticos Prize, and from 2019 to 2024 holds the Byvanck Chair at Leiden University. She has given public lectures across the world, and is regularly invited to talk to schools.

Joanna Wallace studied Law at Birmingham University before working as a commercial litigation solicitor in London. She now runs a family business and lives in Buckinghamshire with her husband, four children and dog. She was partly inspired to write You'd Look Better as a Ghost, her debut, following her father's diagnosis of early onset dementia. Joanna's second novel, The Dead Friend Project, was published by Viper in 2024.

Stephen Vines has been writing about markets and business for more than two decades. He was the Deputy Business Editor of The Observer and has worked for The Guardian, The Independent, The Daily Telegraph and the New York-based Daily Deal. More recently he has combined writing with founding and running a number of companies and learning a lot more about how business really works. He is also an active stock market investor and has provided consultancy services to a number of listed companies. Now based in Hong Kong, he is the author of a study of the Asian financial crisis called The Years of Living Dangerously. Stephen Vines was the founding Chief Editor of Eastern Express, a ground breaking daily newspaper published in Hong Kong.

Katharina Volckmer is a writer and journalist based in London. She holds a DPhil in Modern Languages from the University of Oxford. Her first novel The Appointment was longlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize and the Republic of Consciousness Prize. It has been translated into over 15 languages and has been adapted for the stage and radio in several countries. Her writing and journalism has appeared in LitHub, HEAT, Apartamento, Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, Astra Magazine and others. Her second novel Calls May Be Recorded for Training and Monitoring Purposes (a.k.a Wonderfuck) was published in 2025 and has been translated into several languages.

Manuel Vázquez Montalbán was born in Barcelona in 1939. He was a journalist, novelist and creator of Pepe Carvalho, a fast-living, gourmet private detective. Montalbán won both the Raymond Chandler Prize and the French Grand Prix of Detective Fiction for his thrillers, which are translated into all major languages. He died in October 2003.

Boris Vian (1920-59) was a French writer, poet, musician, singer, translator, critic, actor, inventor and engineer. Best remembered for L'Écume des jours (translated into English by Stanley Chapman as Froth on the Daydream and renamed Mood Indigo to tie in with the film, starring Romain Duris and Audrey Tautou), Vian's work is characterised by the dazzling wordplay and surreal plots which made him a cult figure in 1960s France and beyond.

Kevin Vaughan-Smith is a former EY Associate Partner and consultant who has worked with business leaders including IBM, BP, Aviva, Vodafone, O2, and 3 of the Big 4, including 7 years as Managing Director of Franklin Covey UK.

Dr Dorothy Wade is a consultant psychologist at the Royal Free London NHS Trust, specialising in working with critically ill patients and their families. She is also honorary associate professor at University College London, and co-chair of UK Psychologists in Intensive Care (PINC-UK).

Previously a journalist, including as Deputy Editor of the Sunday Times Magazine, her experience commissioning and writing about psychology, health, medicine and neuroscience led her to retrain as a psychologist. She has written numerous academic book chapters, journal articles and professional guidelines. An experienced public speaker and broadcaster, she lives in London.

Altered States of Mind is her first book and in 2024 was awarded the RSL Giles St Aubyn Award for non-fiction.

The Velominati are founders of a singular online community – www.velominati.com – which celebrates the history of road cycling with a distinctive point of view, best described as (ir)reverence. Their infamous Rules challenge cycling fans to emulate their heroes in everything from training ('it never gets easier, you just go faster') and equipment ('the correct number of bikes to own is n+1') to sock length and coffee choice. The Rules were published in book form in 2013. Frank Strack, Editor in Chief, spreads the word at bike shows worldwide, and in his column for Cycling magazine.

Mark van Vugt is professor of psychology at the VU University of Amsterdam and holds honorary positions at the Universities of Oxford and Kent in the UK.