Contributors

Pete Magill is a columnist for Running Times magazine and was the 2013 USA Masters Cross Country Runner of the Year.

Sue Unerman is the Chief Strategic Officer at MediaCom. She is also a Council Member of the Open University, sits on the University of Oxford Public Affairs Advisory Group, was on the Advisory Board of the Government Digital Service and is on the Corporate Development Board of Women's Aid.

Kathryn Jacob is CEO of Pearl & Dean. She has worked at the Daily Telegraph and Virgin Radio. She is a member of the Government Expert Group on Body Confidence and the Advertising Association Council, ex-President of Women in Advertising and Communications and is on the Development Board of Women's Aid.

Erin O. White is an essayist and the author of the memoir Give Up for You. Her writing has been previously published in The New York Times, The Rumpus and elsewhere. She lives in Minnesota with her wife and daughters.

Nicholas Royle was born in Manchester in 1963. He is the author of five novels, including Antwerp. An assiduous champion of the short story, he has written more than 100 tales, which have appeared in a variety of anthologies and magazines. His latest collection is Mortality, shortlisted for the Edge Hill Prize. He has edited twelve anthologies, including A Book of Two Halves and The Time Out Book of New York Short Stories. He lives in Manchester with his wife and two children, where he teaches creative writing at Manchester Metropolitan University.

Jackie Gay has co-edited three anthologies of short stories including England Calling and Hard Shoulder.

William S Burroughs is the grand-daddy of all cult writers. He is the author of Naked Lunch, Junky and many other novels. Short stories appear in High Risk 1 and The Junky's Christmas, both published by Serpent's Tail. He died in 1998. Ghost of Chance was first published by Serpent's Tail in hardback in 1997.

Kathy Acker was one of the most original, subversive and influential writers of the late 20th century. Known variously, and notoriously, as a postmodernist, feminist, post-punk and plagiarist, her work – over a dozen novels and novellas – has inspired a generation of writers and artists. She died in 1997.

Julian Baggini is a British philosopher and writer. He is the author of Welcome to Everytown and The Pig that Wants to be Eaten… and is a co-founder and editor of The Philosophers' Magazine. He has written for The Guardian, The Independent and many other publications, and is a regular guest on BBC Radio 4.