Joanna Lumley is an award-winning actress (three BAFTAs) and dedicated campaigner for human rights and animal welfare. She is equally known for her successful campaign supporting the rights of Gurkha veterans to live in the UK, and for her work to end factory farming and long distance transport of animals. She is a Patron of Compassion in World Farming. She was honoured by HM the Queen in The New Year’s Honours for 2022 and became a Dame.

Dame Judi Dench is a multi-award-winning stage, television and film actress, including an Oscar for “Shakespeare in Love”, although she is probably best known for playing “M” in seven James Bond films.  Her most recent stage appearance was in “The Winter’s Tale” with Kenneth Branagh and her most recent film is “Cats”.   She was made a Dame in 1988 and became a Companion of Honour in 2005.  She supports a vast range of charities and is delighted to add Compassion in World Farming to her list.  

Photograph by Robert Wilson.

Chris is an award-winning naturalist, author and television presenter, with a lifelong fascination with wildlife of all kinds. In 2016 Chris’s autobiography, ’Fingers in the Sparkle Jar’ was published and reached number one in The Sunday Times Bestsellers list. One reviewer wrote, ‘It’s bold and beautiful, both raw and lyrical, and a rather special book.’ He has presented on many wildlife shows, including BBC’s BAAFTA Award- winning Springwatch, Autumnwatch and Winterwatch series. He was awarded a CBE in 2019 for services to wildlife and nature conservation. A vegan himself, he is also a fearless campaigner for the environment, wildlife and more plant-based eating.

The multi-award-winning Zoë Wanamaker CBE is one of the most acclaimed actresses of her generation, with a career that spans both stage and screen. She is a four-time Tony Award nominee, and a ten-time Olivier Award nominee, winning the Best Actress Award twice for Electra and Once In A Lifetime. Zoë's career has taken her from the RSC to the National Theatre via Broadway, the Royal Court, the West End and the Donmar Warehouse. Her varied television career has included the much-loved BBC sitcom My Family, along with Poirot and Mr. Selfridge. She received a BAFTA nomination for her role in the film Wilde, with other film credits including Harry Potter and My Week With Marilyn. Zoë has more recently been in all three series of the Sky/Amazon collaboration Britannia as Queen Antedia, as well as appearing in two series of Shadow & Bone. She has three Honorary Doctorates.

Photo of Zoë by Jillian Edelstein

Megan McCubbin is a passionate scientist and adventurer who focuses on science communication as a means to raise awareness for the climate and the biodiversity we share our planet with. She is one of the UK’s leading wildlife TV presenters, and is one of the faces of BBC Two’s BAFTA award winning Springwatch, Autumnwatch and Winterwatch but also works on shows such as: ITV’s This Morning, CBBC’s Planet Defenders, Al Jazeera’s award-winning Earthrise, BBC Earth’s Amaze me, BBC Two’s Chris & Meg’s Wild Summer and BBC One's Animal Park. Megan has studied and photographed wildlife around the world and is an active campaigner and author.

Rufus is recognised as one of the great vocalists, songwriters and composers of his generation. Apart from his many songs, he has written two operas, including the award-winning Hadrian and Antinous (2018), and orchestral settings for five of Shakespeare’s sonnets. He has written and recorded songs for several films, including Brokeback Mountain and has collaborated with musicians as diverse as Elton John and Jessye Norman. He has recorded seven studio albums and three live albums, including the Grammy-nominated Rufus Does Judy at Carnegie Hall. His latest album is Unfollow The Rules, inspired by married life, fatherhood, loss and love. More information on his website: https://rufuswainwright.com/ .

Musician Peter Gabriel founded the rock group Genesis, has an enormously successfully solo career and is a pioneer in recording World Music. Amnesty International awarded him their Ambassador of Conscience Award in 2008. He co-founded the advocacy organisation WITNESS and the Global Elders, a group of global leaders who work for peace and human rights.

Photo credit: Arnold Newman

One of the most distinctive artists of his generation, Sir Stephen combines a distinguished career as a concert pianist with those of a composer and a writer. Named by The Economist as one of 20 Living Polymaths, Hough was the first classical performer to be awarded a MacArthur Fellowship. He has performed with most of the world's major orchestras and his catalogue of over sixty CDs has garnered four Grammy nominations, eight Gramophone Awards and France's Diapason d'Or de l'Année.

Brian is a multi-award winning actor whose career spans six decades across theatre, film and television. He is currently the lead of the hit HBO show Succession, for which he won a Golden Globe in 2020. As well as being a two-time Olivier Award-winner, Brian won an Emmy, in 2001, for his portrayal of Nazi war criminal ‘Hermann Goering’ in TNT’s Nuremberg and was nominated again the following year for playing Daphne’s father on Frasier. Starring in countless films, Brian played ‘Winston Churchill’ in the 2017 feature film Churchill and has worked with directors Spike Lee in The 25th Hour and Spike Jonze in Adaptation.

In 2022, Brian presented a two-part docuseries, Brian Cox: How the Other Half Live, exploring the wealth divide in the UK and the US, and he actively supports a large number of charities, including Compassion in World Farming. His autobiography, Putting the Rabbit in the Hat, was published in 2021.

Photograph by David Ho.

Scottish actor Alan Cumming has been a star of screen and stage for over thirty years with TV and film work ranging from art house to blockbuster, including Spy Kids, The Good Wife, X2:X Men United and Goldeneye. He is a Tony and Olivier Award winning theatre actor and has won a New York Emmy, a Scottish BAFTA and a British Comedy Award. The author of six books, Alan has four honorary doctorates and over forty awards for being a humanitarian. He actively supports a number of arts organisations, as well as a wide range of human rights and animal welfare campaigns.

Photo credit: Josh Going

Grammy® Award Winner & US Billboard #1 artist, Ricky Kej is an internationally renowned Indian Music composer and environmentalist. He has performed at prestigious venues in over 30 countries, including at the United Nations Headquarters in New York and Geneva. Ricky has won more than 100 music awards in over 20 countries. He has been Awarded "United Nations Global Humanitarian Artist" and is also the “Youth Icon of India". Ricky has been named as one of the 100 Real Leaders who 'Inspire the Future'. He is the UNESCO mgiep “Global Ambassador for Kindness”, UNCCD “Land Ambassador”, UNICEF “Celebrity Supporter” & Ambassador for “Earth Day Network”.

Kate Humble is a writer and broadcaster. Her television series include Escape to the Farm, Springwatch, Living with Nomads and Wild Shepherdess. She also presented the award-winning comedy game show Wild Things, wildlife quiz Curious Creatures and has made guest appearances on Would I Lie to You and other comedy programmes.

She is the author of six books including Where the Hearth Is: Stories of Home, Homecooked: Recipes From the Farm, A Year of Living Simply and Thinking on My Feet: The Small Joys of Putting One Foot in Front of The Other (shortlisted for the Wainwright Prize and the Stanford Travel Writing Award). She regularly writes on wildlife, rural affairs, travel and wellbeing for various publications. Her new cook book Homemade is out in October.

She is the founder of Humble by Nature, a rural skills and artisan business centre on her farm in Monmouthshire, is president of WWT, ambassador for Farms for City Children and the Whitley Fund for Nature.

Amir Khan is a full-time NHS GP (General Practitioner), with a specialist interest in Type 2 Diabetes, children’s and women’s health, minor surgery and joint injections, and he is an award-winning Honorary Senior Lecturer and GP Trainer.

His passions beside medicine include his involvement as President of or ambassador for several wildlife conservation organisations. He is keen on ensuring access to green spaces for inner city children and spreading the word on how being outside with nature is good for your health.

Amir is a media star with numerous TV appearances. He writes regularly on health and wildlife matters for a range of publications and his book, The Doctor Will See You Now (Penguin, 2020), is a Sunday Times Bestseller. He is an ambassador for The Good Grief Trust and is a keen gardener, runner, fitness enthusiast, traveller and baker.

Dr Marc Abraham OBE, or 'Marc the Vet', is a Brighton-based, multi-award-winning vet, author, and broadcaster. Marc also campaigns for animal welfare, is secretariat of the All-Party Parliamentary Dog Advisory Welfare Group (APDAWG) in Westminster, and led the campaign to ban the sale of puppies in UK pet shops, known as 'Lucy's Law'. Marc also gives talks to local schools about caring for animals and looking out for one another, plus he's just finished making a documentary called Dogspiracy. Marc was recently presented with his OBE for Services to Animal Welfare by King Charles III. More: www.marcthevet.net.

Barbara Kingsolver is an American author whose books of fiction, poetry and creative nonfiction include the novels Demon Copperhead, The Bean Trees, The Poisonwood Bible, and The Lacuna. Her work has won a devoted worldwide readership and has been translated into more than twenty languages. She is the recipient of many awards, including the Orange Prize for Fiction and the National Humanities Medal. Her writings have been incorporated into the core English literature curriculum of many colleges. She lives on a farm in Virginia.

Photo by David Wood

In 1975 Michael and his wife Clare set up the charity Farms for City Children in Devon, enabling inner-city children to experience living and working on a family farm. For this they were awarded the MBE. Michael has published over 130 books including War Horse, Private Peaceful and The Butterfly Lion and was Children's Laureate 2003 - 2005. A passionate campaigner for children's literature, the rights of children and for peace, in 2006 he was awarded the OBE for services to children's literature.

Photo by Richard Cannon

After reading English at Newham College, Cambridge, Miriam Margolyes joined the BBC Radio Drama Repertory Company and has since worked in theatre, TV and films, giving memorable performances as a character actress, including Professor Sprout of Harry Potter fame. A Dickens lover, she is active politically on the Left, and for health, environment and animal charities. She was awarded the OBE in 2001 for services to Drama and has received awards from BAFTA and the LA Critics Circle.

Peter Egan is an actor (both stage and screen) and a dedicated animal advocate. In a long and varied career Peter has starred most recently in Downton Abbey, Hold the Sunset, Unforgotten, After Life2 and The Spanish Princess. He is perhaps best known as Paul in Ever Decreasing Circles or Magnus Pym in The Perfect Spy.

A talented writer, broadcaster and campaigner, Hugh is widely known for his uncompromising commitment to seasonal, ethically produced food and has earned a huge following through his River Cottage TV series and books. Hugh’s Chicken Out! campaign and TV shows inspired many to buy only high welfare chicken. His Fish Fight TV and campaign have helped achieve EU laws to end fish “discards”. Hugh believes we should eat less, but better, meat.

Michael is a multi-award-winning author whose books include Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation (2013) and The Omnivore's Dilemma (2006), named one of the ten best books of 2006 by the New York Times and the Washington Post. Several of his books have been adapted for television. He was named in the 2010 TIME 100, the magazine's annual list of the world's 100 most influential people. In 2009 he was named by Newsweek as one of the Top 10 'New Thought Leaders'. He is Professor of Journalism at UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism.

Alan is one of the best-known faces in the gardening media world, having presented popular TV shows like Gardeners’ World and Ground Force. Alan is a busy author, having written more than 50 gardening books and nine novels as well as regular gardening columns in the national press. He was appointed MBE in 2000. In 2004 he received the Victoria Medal of Honour, the highest accolade in the British gardening world. He is also an Ambassador of The Prince’s Trust and an Ambassador for the Prince’s Countryside Fund. In 2015 he became Chancellor of Winchester University.

Actress Penelope Keith is well-loved in the UK both for her comedy and theatre roles. She has won two BAFTAs. She is a keen gardener and keeps ex-battery farm hens. She has served as High Sheriff of Surrey 2002-2003 and is President of the south west Surrey branch of the conservation organisation, the National Trust. Penelope is a Patron of Compassion in World Farming. She was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire for services to the Arts and to Charity in 2014.

James Bolam is a much-loved actor. His TV credits include When the Boat Comes in, the Beiderbecke Trilogy, Only When I laugh, Jack Halford in' New Tricks' plus the popular CBeebies show Grandpa in My Pocket. James gave a sensational performance as Harold Shipman. His stage work has seen him in London’s West End, on Broadway, at the Royal National Theatre, The Royal Court, Young and Old Vics and on national and international tours. James has played Shakespeare’s Lear, Macbeth, Feste, and Touchstone.

Rose pioneered the current wave of interest in cruelty-free cookery with Simply Delicious, published in 1967, and has since written over 60 vegetarian and vegan cookbooks. She has recently become a Patron of Compassion in World Farming. In 1999 Rose was awarded an MBE for services to vegetarian cookery. She is also an accomplished astrologer, author of Life Cycles, and Fellow of the Association of Professional Astrologers International (FPAI). She has written a book about the inspiration which a Buddhist monk brought to her life.

Sue’s acting credits include playing Her Majesty for the TV series The Queen and roles in When the Boat Comes In, Heartbeat, and New Tricks. Her latest theatre role was Mrs Nickleby in David Edgar’s Nicholas Nickleby. Sue has recorded many Audio Books, including 46 of Catherine Cookson’s novels, and recently the rather senior assistant to Tom Baker’s Dr in a new CD series. She is now happily scaring little ones as the ghastly Aunt Loretta in CBeebies’ Grandpa in My Pocket.

Jilly Cooper DBE is a journalist and author of more than forty books, many of them best-sellers. She lives in Gloucestershire with her rescued greyhounds, Feather and Bluebell, and her rescued cat, Feral. She was appointed an OBE in 2004 for services to literature and in 2009 was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Letters by the University of Gloucestershire for her contribution to literature and services to the county. In 2024 she received a DBE in the New Year Honours list. Jilly is a Patron of Compassion in World Farming.

A freelance farming writer, Graham has written for a wide range of publications including the Daily Mail and New Scientist. For 3 years he wrote the Old Muckspreader column in Private Eye. He has been a script-writer on The Archers for 27 years. His first book, The Killing of the Countryside, won the BP Natural World Book Prize. His new book is The Carbon Fields, (Grassroots). He is cofounder of Pasture Promise TV which makes films on sustainable, pasture-based agriculture.

Chris is an author, journalist and former Labour Party MP. He served as a Minister in three departments and was chairman of the Home Affairs select committee. His books include three highly acclaimed volumes of diaries, A View from the Foothills, Decline and Fall and A Walk-On Part. His novel A Very British Coup was made into an award winning television series. He was a judge of The Man Booker Prize in 2011. He was chairman of the Heritage Lottery Fund in the North East from 2011-2017.

Rebecca is an author, screenwriter and film director. Her novel "The Private Lives of Pippa Lee" was published in over thirty countries and made into a film, which she wrote and directed. She wrote and directed the film version of her short story collection "Personal Velocity", winning several awards, including the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance. She also wrote and directed the award-winning film "The Ballad of Jack and Rose". Her latest highly innovative novel is "Jacob's Folly".

Isabel Hilton is the founder of chinadialogue.net, the world's first bilingual website on climate and environment, where she is CEO and Editor in Chief. A writer and broadcaster, she contributes to national and international publications such as The New York Times, The Economist, Granta, El País and Le Monde and she contributes regularly to BBC World Service and TV Current Affairs programmes. She was appointed OBE in 2010 for her work in raising environmental awareness in China.

Noelle Harrison is an Irish writer currently based in Edinburgh. She has published six novels under her own name: Beatrice, A Small Part of Me, I Remember, The Adulteress, The Secret Loves of Julia Caesar and most recently The Gravity of Love. Her forthcoming novel, The Island Girls with be out in Spring 2020. She also writes under the pen name of Evie Blake, author of the Valentina Trilogy. Noelle has also written for stage: Northern Landscapes, Black Virgin, Runaway Wife and The Good Sister all produced by her theatre company Aurora when she lived in Ireland, and most recently Witches’ Gets which was performed as part of Cymera Festival in Edinburgh in June 2019. 

Carol Royle is a leading actress and her many roles for the RSC include Ophelia in Hamlet and Cressida in Troilus and Cressida. She is Patron of Animal Aid, Animal Free Research UK, Safer Medicines Campaign, and Friends of the Animals, and supports Compassion in World Farming. She’s appeared in many West End plays, most recently Beautiful, the Carole King musical and Orpheus Descending, and numerous TV series, including Life Without George, Heartbeat, a storyline in Casualty, playing a Huntington’s Disease sufferer, and most recently two series of Endeavour for ITV.

Liu Chunyan is a household name in China, where she is the most famous children's TV presenter, hosting hugely popular programmes on China Central Television such as "Big Windmill" and "Smart Trees". These programmes combine fun and games with simple wisdom. She supports associated charity events and is also well known for dubbing foreign films into Chinese.

Marina Lewycka was born of Ukrainian parents in a German refugee camp after World War II and now lives in Sheffield, Yorkshire. Her award-winning first novel, A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian, was published in 2005 and went on to sell a million copies in thirty- five languages. Two Caravans came out in 2007, and first brought her to CIWF. She has since published We Are All Made of Glue in 2009, Various Pets Alive and Dead in 2012, The Lubetkin Legacy in 2015, and The Good the Bad and the Little Bit Stupid in 2019.

Vanessa Hannam was brought up in the Quaker village of Jordans. She left school at 16 and became a couture model for the House of Worth. She then became personal assistant to the Director of The Contemporary Art Society at the Tate Gallery. She married and had 4 children, 12 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren. During this time she studied singing with Walter Gruner at the Guildhall, performing in concerts, oratorios and amateur operatic productions.

In 1983 Vanessa Hannam married a Member of Parliament. She has worked a journalist and was for many years a fund-raiser for Cruse Bereavement Care.

In 1992 she became a magistrate. She began writing short stories in 1993 and has subsequently written 5 novels. She is an avid supporter of Compassion in World Farming.

Geoffrey Hughes is the Director and founder (1986) of The Osborne Studio Gallery in London. Specializing in contemporary Sporting Paintings and Sculptures, Geoffrey has had a strong connection with horseracing and animal welfare. Geoffrey is a trustee of the Peter O'Sullevan Charitable Trust which supports six animal welfare charities, including Compassion in World Farming which he is very proud to support.

Amit is one of the most famous names in the field of Panoramic Photography. His The Monumental India Book was acclaimed as one of the top 10 coffee-table books in 2008 and The Sacred India Book won the German Photo Book Award 2014. He has exhibited in India, New York, London & Berlin. Several works are in private collections. His current projects include: India at Home - a panoramic book on people in their domestic spaces. His website is worth a visit!

Bill is a prolific and highly successful American author, domiciled in England. His humorous travel tales are famous, but he is also a wonderful science communicator and won the Aventis and Descartes prizes for his best-selling “A Short History of Nearly Everything”. Bill has received numerous honours including an honorary OBE, and became the first non-Briton to be made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society. He is passionate about the countryside and was President of the Campaign to Protect Rural England for several years.

For twenty years Jeremy was a city stockbroker and was a partner of Cazenove & Co. After the deaths of his parents and then the long illness of his wife, he became a carer and parent. Two years after his wife died he turned into a Film Producer putting together the movie Summer in February,  starring Dominic Cooper and Dan Stevens. He is the middle son of cricket legend Colin Cowdrey.

Jenny Seagrove was born in Malaysia and grew up around animals. She trained at The Bristol Old Vic Theatre school. Her thirty year acting career has covered stage, film and television, during which she has played the title role in “Jane Eyre” and “The Constant Wife” on stage, and QC Jo Mills in the TV series “Judge John Deed”. Animals continued to feature in her life. She is a passionate supporter of all things organic, a vegetarian and Patron of countless Charities. 

Jonathan Self is a journalist. He has written for The Times, Telegraph, Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday as well as many UK magazines including Vanity Fair and Country Life. Jonathan is also the founder of a small, ethical dog food producer called Honey’s. For many years he was a council member and then a trustee of the World Land Trust. 

Lesley Nicol is famous for her portrayal of “Mrs Patmore” in the highly successful TV costume drama, Downton Abbey. Acting was always Lesley’s first love and, since graduating from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, she has acted on stage in a variety of roles including Rosie in Mamma Mia and Kath Casey in Our House. Her film appearances include roles in East is East and the sequel West is West. 

Xie is an original singer/songwriter, well-known in China. He established a rock band "You Zhi Da Dou" in 1998. In 2006, he initiated and founded the NGO team named "Don't Eat Friends", since when he has been fully engaged in the promotion of animal protection and advocacy of an environmentally-friendly lifestyle. Zheng Xie released his first record "Singing for You - Dedicated to Earthlings" in August 2010. It is the first of its kind in China on the theme of animal and environmental protection.

Jian Yi (简艺/簡藝) is an award-winning filmmaker and social innovator. He founded the Good Food Fund, a leading initiative in China’s food systems transformation. In 2021, Jian served on the Core Leadership Team of Action Track 2 of the United Nations Food Systems Summit. Jian is currently a visiting fellow at the Harvard Law School's Animal Law and Policy Program. He was also a Yale World Fellow, a Harvard Gleitsman, an India-China Fellow and an Asian Cultural Council grantee. Jian holds Masters degrees from Harvard Kennedy School, Communication University of China and the University of Notre Dame, where he got a Distinguished Alumni Award.

Clive Hicks-Jenkins is a well-known painter. Simon Callow has called him ‘one of the most individual and complete artists of our time'. His paintings, prints and artists’ books are in numerous public collections, including the National Museum of Wales, the Museum of Modern Art Wales, the Contemporary Art Society for Wales, Llandaff Cathedral, as well as private collections and libraries around the world. He is a Royal Cambrian Academician and an Honorary Fellow of Aberystwyth University School of Art. The book Clive Hicks-Jenkins was published by Lund Humphries in 2011.

Hiranmay Karlekar is a distinguished author and journalist and Consultant Editor of The Pioneer. He has been Editor, The Hindustan Times, Deputy Editor, The Indian Express and Assistant Editor, The Statesman. He has been a member of the Press Council of India, general secretary, the Editors' Guild of India, Director, PTI, and a Nieman Fellow at Harvard (1966-67). His latest book is Endgame in Afghanistan: For Whom the Dice Rolls. He is a member of the Animal Welfare Board of India.

Joseph Gibson is an award winning garden designer. At the RHS Hampton Court Flower Show in 2018 his garden, ‘Conscious Consumerism’, showed the devastating effects of expanding agriculture and factory farming  and won a gold medal. Having spent time in South America and seeing first-hand the effects of deforestation, brought on by intensive agriculture, Joseph is resolute in sharing the message that we as consumers have a responsibility to reduce our impact by making more ethical decisions every day.

Linda is the author of This Book is Cruelty Free - Animals and Us, a guide to compassionate living for teenagers and adults, which looks at the choices we make in our daily lives, how they affect animals and the environment, and how we can live more kindly and sustainably. She is better-known as a writer of fiction, with titles including Set in Stone (a Costa category winner), The Shell House and Lob. She's a long-term supporter of Compassion in World Farming and many other organisations which protect animals and the environment. She lives in rural Oxfordshire.

David lives on the edge of the Marlborough Downs, and for many years he has been a wildlife enthusiast. He has always enjoyed photography, but even more so in the last few years. His son has now taken over the farm so allowing him more time for photography.  He loves to try to capture the essence of the Marlborough Downs, with its stunning countryside and wildlife. He is often asked what is his favourite thing to photograph, and the answer is ‘anything in the natural world’.

In the last few years he has been fortunate to travel to many places, and he says it has been a dream to see and photograph wonderful landscapes and wildlife all over the world. Recently he has been to Hokkaido, an Island to the north of Japan, to Nepal with the World Pheasant Association, as well as to Zimanga in South Africa.

Jack is a 26 year-old documentary film-maker and environmental activist. At the age of eighteen he built up a successful YouTube channel and production company called JacksGap, which has over four million subscribers worldwide. Jack has used this platform to consistently raise awareness of mental health, forced migration and environmental issues, working with organisations such as WWF, Greenpeace, Extinction Rebellion and the United Nations Environmental program. Jack holds an MA in documentary film and ethnography from UCL.

Anglo Irish conductor Crispin Ward studied conducting at the Royal College of Music. He regularly appears at major festivals and venues in the USA and Europe. For three years, he was granted a British Foreign Office Scholarship to support him as the Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the National Chamber Orchestra of Moldova. He also conducted orchestras around the former Eastern Bloc. He received the title of Om Emerit from President Vladimir Voronin, equivalent to a British Knighthood.

Crispin is a prolific composer and arranger; he won the International IVCA gold award for best film music for the film Reivers 12. He has been commissioned to write a score for the black and white silent film Battleship Potemkin.

Cornelia Funke is a storyteller and illustrator. She is published all over the world in so many languages, that she feels sometimes as if she got lost in her own stories. Her book, The Thief Lord, was second on the New York Times Bestseller List when it was published in English. Since 2012 she has been one of the German ambassadors of the UN Decade on Biodiversity. She is German but lives in Malibu, CA - and in all the worlds she explores with her readers.

Photo credit- Thorsten Wulff

Karsten Brensing is a marine biologist, conservationist, researcher and advocate for  animals. Much of his work has focused on the communication of dolphins and their protection. He has published three successful books about the thinking and feeling of animals, including “What do Animals Think and Feel?” He has worked as a consultant for the German Ministry of the Environment, the European Commission and different environmental organisations. His first children's book was awarded with two prestigious prizes. Moreover, he is the co-founder of the "Individual Rights Initiative" calling for a better status of animals in legislation.

Photo credit: Maria Schlösser

Alan Spence is an award-winning Scottish author. He is currently Edinburgh Makar (Poet Laureate for the City). He is also Professor Emeritus in Creative Writing at the University of Aberdeen. He has received the Order of the Rising Sun from the government of Japan. With his wife Janani he runs the Sri Chinmoy Meditation Centre in Edinburgh.

Liu Zhenyun is a famous Chinese writer and playwright. His works have been translated and published in more than 20 countries and regions. His has won many awards, including the Maodun Literature Award, excellent adapted screenplay award of the China Huabiao Film Award, best adapted screenplay in China’s Golden Rooster Film Awards, the excellent screenplay award of the China Film Association, and best screenwriter award at the Berlin International Film Festival. He was also awarded the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, Egypt’s highest cultural award in 2016 and has also received Morocco’s highest cultural award.

Lewis Pugh is an environmental campaigner, maritime lawyer and endurance swimmer. He is best known for swimming swim across the North Pole to highlight the melting of the Arctic sea ice and for swimming across a glacial lake on Mt Everest to draw attention to melting glaciers in the Himalayas. He has received a number of awards including France and South Africa's highest honours. In 2011, the World Economic Forum named him a Young Global Leader.

Braam is an extreme adventurer, an international motivational speaker, a regular TV Presenter in South Africa, wrote the best-seller The Great Run and is a dedicated conservationist. Braam has an infectious energy that is fed by his life-long passion to protect the environment. He initiated the (DOT) campaign, saying, “Our planet is just a dot in the universe; we are just dots on our planet; but, if we each just DO ONE THING (D.O.T.) we can make a radical difference”.

Abhejali is a Czech long-distance swimmer, runner, motivational speaker and translator. She is the tenth person in the world, the fourth woman in the world and the first person from a landlocked country to finish the Oceans Seven challenge. She has been practising meditation since 1995 and is a vegetarian. She dedicates her free time to several non-profit projects, including the Sri Chinmoy Oneness-Home Peace Run, the motto of which is "Peace begins with me" - each of us can do something to make this world a better place. And that is what Abhejali is trying to do with everything she does.

Henry Mance is an award-winning journalist at the Financial Times, and the author of How to Love Animals in a Human-Shaped World (Vintage Publishing 2021). The book explores his journey of discovery into how we treat animals and what actions we can take as individuals to reduce their suffering.

Gernot Wagner is a climate economist and writer. He teaches at New York University, writes the Risky Climate column for Bloomberg Green, and is the author, among others, of Geoengineering: the Gamble (Polity, 2021) and a co-author of Climate Shock (Princeton, 2015). For more: gwagner.com

Adéla Knapová is a multi award-winning Czech author, journalist, playwright and reporter of the popular weekly magazine Reflex. She has so far written four novels and novellas that have been highly acclaimed by critics and readers alike (of which, for example, The Impossibility of Zero was ranked by Czech Radio among the best Czech and foreign books). She writes essays and short stories, and is the author of a series of one-act plays for the Reflex (non)theatre.

ZHAO Gang (b. 1961) is a Chinese-American artist. He is a key figure in the development of Chinese contemporary art. He made his artistic debut as a member of the Stars Group, one of the first avant-garde artist groups to open the era of contemporary art in China, when he was 18 years old. He then pursued formal art education in Europe and New York, studying at the State Academy of Fine Art, Maastricht, Holland, and then Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, USA and Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, USA. His selected museum solo exhibitions include: The Road to Serfdom II, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo (Chile, 2016); Paramour’s Garden, Suzhou Museum(China, 2015); The Road to Serfdom, Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (China, 2015); Sick Man: Zhao Gang, Today Art Museum (China, 2011). He was featured in TIME magazine as one of the Ten Most Influential Chinese-Americans in 1995. He currently lives and works in New York and Beijing.

Adam Alexander is a consummate storyteller thanks to forty years as a successful and award-winning film and television producer. He lectures widely on his work discovering conserving and sharing rare, endangered garden crops. He is a Board Member of the national charity Garden Organic and the Heritage Seed Library, for which he is a seed guardian. He grows seed of heritage Syrian and Ukrainian vegetables for displaced people and to be returned to the Middle East as part of a programme to revive traditional horticulture and seed-saving. He is the author of The Seed Detective (Chelsea Green Publishing 2022).