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Michael O’Donnell practised medicine for twelve years before becoming a writer. He was editor of World Medicine, has published two novels, and written and presented over one hundred TV documentaries in Europe and the US. At Radio Four he was chairman of ‘My Word’, presenter of the award-winning series ‘Relative Values’ and a regular contributor to the programme ‘Stop The Week’.

Bill Oddie is well known as ‘Britain’s best-known bird-watcher’ and natural history presenter. His recent programmes include ‘Springwatch’, ‘Autumnwatch’, Bill Oddie goes Wild, three series of ‘Birding with Bill Oddie’, ‘Bird in the Nest’, and ‘BBC – Nature Watch’. He has also written the highly-successful book ‘Birdwatching with Bill Oddie’.

After graduating from university and working in a craft shop, Makoto Oozu began a career as an independent cross stitch designer. He has revolutionized the cross stitch world with his fresh designs, making cross stitch more accessible to young women and men. He has now released books of his designs, and teaches cross stitch workshops all over Japan. He lives in Tokyo where he runs his design company Oozu Inc.

Joanna Osborne is one half of the knitwear business Muir & Osborne as both a designer and author. With her partner Sally Muir, Muir & Osborne export their knitwear to stores in the United States, Japan and Europe as well as selling to shops in the United Kingdom. Several pieces of their knitwear are in the permanent collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. They have published seven knitting pattern books that include Best in Show, Knit Your Own Dog, (also Cat, Pet, Zoo, Farm and Dinosaur) and the children’s book Patch’s Grand Dog Show.

Born in Sumatra, Indonesia, Sri Owen moved to Britain in 1964 and is an internationally renowned author, lecturer and cook whose admired and authoritative books include The Rice Book (winner of the André Simon award), Indonesian and Thai Cookery, Indonesian Regional Food and Cookery and Healthy Thai Cooking. Since she was first published in 1976, Sri has become the foremost authority on Indonesian cuisine in Britain and is one of the ‘grandes dames’ of the British food scene. She was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Guild of Food Writers in 2017.

Richard Offen retired in 2017 after 13 years as executive director of Heritage Perth. During that time he was able to immerse himself in the history of Perth and Western Australia and has helped to dispel the urban myth “Perth has no history”. In retirement, he writes, still takes walking tours of the city’s historic sites and is a popular lecturer on the subject. Richard also remains a regular broadcaster on both radio and television. He was the co-author of the National Trust book The Living Coast and penned the captions for a book of aerial photographs of the British coast entitled Coastline UK. In his spare time, Richard is on the Board of the Anglican Schools Commission, Deputy Chairman of the Swan Bells Foundation, on the Board of the Young Australia League, Secretary of the Sharpe Trust and a Churchwarden at Christ Church, Claremont.