Caryl Phillips was born in St. Kitts before coming to Britain with his family, growing up in Leeds and studying at Oxford University, UK. His plays include Strange Fruit (1980), Where There is Darkness (1982) and The Shelter (1983). He has also written screenplays, documentaries and dramas for radio and TV. He is well-known, too, as a novelist. His awards include the Martin Luther King Memorial Prize, the Commonwealth Writers Prize, the PEN/Open Book Award, the Anthony N. Sabga Caribbean Award for Excellence and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and the Royal Society of the Arts. He has taught at universities across the world and is currently Professor of English at Yale University, US, and an Honorary Fellow of Queen's College, Oxford University, UK.

Osita Okagbue is Professor of Theatre and Performance at Goldsmith's, University of London, UK. His research focuses on African theatre and performance, Caribbean theatre and postcolonial theatre.