Ian Marchant is a writer and performer. His publications include The Longest Crawl and Parallel Lines (both Bloomsbury). His forthcoming book, A Fool’s Errand, is about infidelity, failure, death, pilgrimages and electric bikes. Visit www.ianmarchant.com.

Catherine Fox is a novelist and freelance journalist. Her novels are: Angels and Men, The Benefits of Passion and Love for the Lost (all Penguin).

Marina Benjamin’s latest memoir, Last Days in Babylon (Bloomsbury), was described by the Sunday Times as ‘a marvel’. Her previous book, Rocket Dreams (Vintage), was shortlisted for the Eugene Emme award.