Reza Shah-Kazemi was born in 1960 in London. He was educated at Sussex University, Exeter University, and Kent University. He spent a year in Paris studying French and is fluent in Persian. In 1994 Reza co-launched the journal Islanmic World Report, which is now a publishing company. From 1997-1999 he served as a consultant to the Institute for Policy Research (IKD)in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia, a political-cultural think-tank, and general editor of IKD Monograph Series. He has authored and translated a number of works, edited a number of collective volumes, and published over a dozen articles and reviews in academic journals. Shah-Kazemi is currently a Research Associate at the Institute of Ismaili Sutdies, London, trustee of the Matheson Trust, and contributor to the BBC World Service program, "Pause for Thought."

Wendell Berry is the author of fifty books of poetry, fiction, and essays. He was recently awarded the Cleanth Brooks Medal for Lifetime Achievement by the Fellowship of Southern Writers and the Louis Bromfield Society Award. For over forty years he has lived and farmed with his wife, Tanya, in Kentucky.