Morgan Meis
Morgan Meis wrote his dissertation on Walter Benjamin's philosophy of experience. He has written for Harper's Magazine, Virginia Quarterly Review, The Believer and The Smart Set. He was the winner of a Warhol Foundation Arts Writers grant for criticism in 2010.

Ameena Hussein
Ameena Hussein is a writer and publisher. She has published two collections of short stories and one novel. She is the co-founder of the Perera Hussein Publishing House. She has just published Sri Lanka’s first ever book of modern erotic stories.

Tracy Hollsinger
Tracy Hollsinger graduated in Drama and Theatre Arts from Goldsmiths' College, University of London. She is Artistic Director of the Mind Adventures theatre company and in 2011 received the Sunethra Bandaranaike Trust arts grant and the Bunka award for special achievement in theatre for the experimental devised shows 'The Travelling Circus' and 'Rondo'.

Sanjana Hattotuwa
Sanjana Hattotuwa is a TED Fellow, and co-curates Groundviews (www.groundviews.org), a leading Sri Lankan website for dissenting voices. He was awarded an Advanced Masters in Conflict Resolution and International Relations from the University of Queensland, Brisbane. He is currently a Senior Researcher at the Centre for Policy Alternatives.

Ingrid Knuston
Ingrid Knuston is the Country Director of the World University Service of Canada (WUSC), whose focus is education and training with more than 20 years history in Sri Lanka. She is also the wife of the Canadian High Commissioner, and is an avid reader and book club member.

Tony Reilly
Tony Reilly is currently Country Director of the British Council in Sri Lanka. Previous postings with the British Council spanning more than 20 years include Iraq, Ireland, South Africa, Turkey,Kuwait and Oman. Tony was awarded an OBE last year for his work in Iraq.

Dr. Stewart Motha
Dr Stewart Motha grew up in Sri Lanka. He is Reader in Law, Birkbeck, University of London and teaches constitutional law. He is also Fellow of the Stellenbosch Institute of Advanced Study, South Africa and has published widely on questions of postcolonial sovereignty, constitutionalism and reconciliation. The books he has edited and co-edited include Democracy’s Empire: Sovereignty, Law, Violence (2007l) and Genres of Critique: Aesthetics and Liminality in Post-Apartheid Jurisprudence (2012).

Shymalee Tudawe
Shymalee Tudawe is the Editor in Chief of Hi Magazine, the first and premier society magazine in Sri Lanka. Her great passions are reading, the Arts and politics, which she combines in her weekly political column Straight Talk. She conducts the popular monthly Hi Bookclub.

Eleanor Wachtel
Eleanor Wachtel is host of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's award winning Writers & Company, and she has interviewed the finest international writers, over her 22 year career with the programme. She has also published four books of interviews, including Original Minds. She has received eight honorary degrees and the Order of Canada.

Smriti Daniel
Smriti Daniel has made a career of talking to strangers. Over the course of nearly a decade as a feature writer for The Sunday Times in Sri Lanka, she’s met hundreds of extraordinary people, many of whom were writers. She was the managing editor for the trilingual children’s magazine, Yuti and is the author of a collection The Guava Tree and Other Poems.

Nihal Rodrigo
Nihal Rodrigo served as Secretary General SAARC (1999-2002), Sri Lanka Foreign Secretary, Ambassador to China, and Sri Lanka UN Missions in New York, Geneva and Vienna. Since retirement, he has been guest lecturer/moderator at think-tanks/universities on security, ethno-societal and development issues.

Jayantha Dhanapala
Jayantha Dhanapala served as Sri Lanka's Deputy High Commissioner in New Delhi from 1981-84 and met late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi during this period. He has visited India many times since then and has published articles on aspects of Indian policy in international journals.

Ariyawansa Ranaweera
Ariyawansa Ranaweera is former secretary, Ministry of Cultural Affairs. He is the author of 40 books (Poetry, Critical essays, Prose and verse translations and translation of plays) and has won 13 state literary awards. He is a regular contributor to Island newspaper.

Deshan Tennekoon
Deshan Tennekoon read Law at King's College London. He contributes regularly to the photography collective Sojournposse.com and his pictures have been published in TimeOut New York and exhibited at the Delhi Photography Festival and the London Design Festival. He received a Fulbright award for photography in 2009.

Madhubhashini Disanayaka-Ratnayake
Madhubhashini Disanayaka-Ratnayake is a writer and senior lecturer at the University of Sri Jayewardenepura. She has a Masters in English and American Literature with a focus on Creative Writing from New York University.  She won the state literary award for the best collection of short stories in 1991, and has been twice shortlisted for the Gratiean award.