Etaf Rum is a Palestinian-American best-selling author whose debut novel A Woman is Man gained a lot of interest. She was raised in a traditional family, entered an arranged marriage at a young age, moved to North Carolina and taught literature at a community college. Her own experiences clearly influence her writing. Her success has continued with Evil Eye being named as USA National Public Radio Best Book of the Year in 2023.

Claire Keegan is an Irish writer who is best known for her short stories. Small Things Like These was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and also the Rathbones Folio Prize, awarded for the finest work of literature, regardless of form, to be published in the English language. It won the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year Award, and also the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction.

Benjamin Myers is a journalist and author whose published books include historical, crime, and literary fiction and poetry. He was brought up in County Durham and his love of this part of Northern England is reflected in many of his novels including The Offing, which was a best seller in the UK. The sea is ever present in this novel, from the coal black beaches of home to the spectacular coastline at Robin Hood’s Bay.