Anita Desai is a prominent Indian author known for her significant contributions to English literature following India’s independence. Born Anita Mazumdar in 1937 in British India, Desai grew up in Old Delhi, where her multicultural background informed her literary voice. She is recognized for her insightful portrayal of the traditional and conservative Indian middle class, particularly focusing on the complex lives of women navigating between traditional and modern roles.

Hon. Eugene R. Sullivan, non-voting chair of the judging panel, is a former Chief Judge of a US Court of Appeals and brings a wealth of experience from sixteen years on the bench. His first novel, The Majority Rules, was published in 2005. The second novel of his political thriller trilogy, The Report to the Judiciary, was published in 2008. A Vietnam Veteran and West Pointer, he was inducted into the U.S Army Ranger Hall of Fame. When not recalled to the Federal Bench, Judge Sullivan is a partner in a Washington law firm.

John Quinn, who passed away in 2026, retired from RTE Radio after a career of twenty-five years, during which he won various awards in Ireland, Tokyo and New York.

John was from Ballivor Co. Meath presented and produced ‘The Open Mind’ from 1989. Other programmes which he has presented and produced include ‘This Place Speaks to Me’, My Education’ (also published in book format), My Millennium, Is There Life After Work? and various documentaries. He has published a number of books including four books for children, one of which – The Summer of Lily and Esme – won the Bisto Children’s Book of the Year Award 1992.

The Norwegian poet Knut Ødegård was born in 1945 in the city of Molde on the west coast of Norway. He studied theology and philology and made his debut as a poet in 1967.  Apart from producing a large number of poetry collections he also published two novels for young readers, two books on Iceland and a play. He divides his time between Molde and Iceland.

Michèle Roberts is the author of twelve highly acclaimed novels, including The Looking Glass and Daughters of the House, which won the WHSmith Literary Award and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, and, most recently, the highly-acclaimed Ignorance, which was longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction, 2013. Her memoir Paper Houses was a BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week. She has also published poetry and short stories, most recently collected in Mud: Stories of Sex and Love. Half-English and half-French, Michèle Roberts lives in London and in the Mayenne, France. She is Emeritus Professor of Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres.

Shirley Geok-Lin Lim was born in Malacca, Malaysia, in 1944 and has lived in the United States of America since 1969. She completed her Ph.D. in British and American Literature in Brandeis University in 1973. Her first collection of poems, Crossing the Peninsula (1980), received the Commonwealth Poetry Prize. She has also published four volumes of poetry: No Man’s Grove (1985); Modern Secrets (1989); Monsoon History (1994), which is a retrospective selection of her work; and What the Fortune Teller Didn’t Say (1998). She is also the author of three books of short stories and a memoir, Among the White Moon Faces (1996), which received the 1997 American Book Award for non-fiction. Her first novel, Joss and Gold, was published in 2001. Her co-edited anthology, The Forbidden Stitch: An Asian American Woman’s Anthology received the 1990 American Book Award. She has published two critical studies, Nationalism and Literature: Writing in English from the Philippines and Singapore (1993) and Writing South East Asia in English: Against the Grain (1994) and has edited / co-edited many volumes and two special issues of journals. Her work has appeared in many journals and she is the recipient of many honours.