Hilary Mantel is the two-time winner of the Man Booker Prize for her bestselling novels Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies. The Royal Shakespeare and the BBC have adapted both works for the stage and the screen, respectively. She has written 14 books, including the short-story compilation The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher and a memoir, Giving up the Ghost. She is currently at work on the third installment of her Thomas Cromwell Trilogy.

Valerie Plame Wilson is a former CIA operative. She is married to the former US ambassador Joseph Wilson. Her identity became public in the “CIA leak scandel” during the George W Bush administration, after her husband criticised the government. Her book Fair Game was also turned into a film starring Sean Penn.

Can Dündar, former editor-in-chief of Turkish newspaper Cumhuriyet, was sentenced to five years in prison on a charge of “revealing state secrets” for reporting on sales of weapons by Turkish intelligence to Syrian fighters. He is appealing the verdict. His new book is We Are Arrested (Biteback).