A Love Letter to Europe

William Dalrymple is the bestselling author of the Wolfson Prizewinning White Mughals, The Last Mughal, which won the DuffCooper Prize, and the Hemingway and Kapuscinski Prize-winning Return of a King and his recent bestseller Anarchy. Dame Margaret Drabble is the author of nineteen novels, including A Summer Bird-Cage, The Millstone, and most recently, the highly acclaimed The Pure Gold Baby and The Dark Flood Rises. She was the editor of the Oxford Companion to English Literature. She was awarded the 2011 Golden PEN Award for a Lifetime's Distinguished Service to Literature. Simon Callow is an actor, director and writer. He was born in London and made his London debut in 'The Plumber's Progress' in 1975. He has performed in numerous theatres, taking the lead roles at the RSC and the National Theatre, and his film appearances include 'Amadeus', 'A Room with a View', and 'Four Weddings and a Funeral'. He made his directorial debut with the film of Carson McCuller's 'Ballad of the Sad Café', and has directed several new plays in fringe theatres, and two operas. He has published two autobiographical books: 'Being an Actor', and 'Shooting the Actor'.

Tracey Emin was born in 1963 to an English mother and Turkish father, and grew up in Margate. She left school at 15, but later studied Fine Art at Maidstone and went on to the Royal College of Art. She is now an internationally renowned artist whose work has been exhibited in museums and galleries throughout the world. Although known as a visual artist, Tracey Emin's confessional writings have always formed the backbone to her work and in 2005 she published her memoir, Strangeland, drawing together new and revised work from the previous 25 years.
In 2007, she was elected as a Royal Academician by the Royal Academy of Arts, where she is now a Professor of Drawing and in 2013 she was appointed CBE. J.K. Rowling is best-known as the author of the seven Harry Potter novels, which were made into eight blockbuster