Maggie Hannan was born in 1962 in Wiltshire, and lived in Derbyshire, Cumbria and Newcastle before moving to Hull. She won a Gregory Award in 1990. Her poems have since been published in many important anthologies, including No Holds Barred, The Gregory Anthology, The New Lake Poets, The New Poetry, Making for Planet Alice and New Blood. Published by Bloodaxe in 1995, Liar, Jones was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best First Collection

Josef Hanzlík, born in 1938, is one of the leading middle-generation Czech poets. He has published ten books of poems, as well as translations from Russian, Serbo-Croat and English.