Anthony David is Director of the UCL Institute of Mental Health and honorary consultant neuropsychiatrist at the National Hospital, Queen Square.

For twenty-eight years he was a consultant psychiatrist at Maudsley Hospital, London, the country's leading psychiatric institution. A Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, the Royal College of Psychiatrists and the Academy of Medical Sciences, he has published over 600 peer-reviewed articles and is co-editor of the journal Cognitive Neuropsychiatry. and the book Lishman's Organic Psychiatry. He also wrote the introduction to the Penguin Classics edition of R. D. Laing's The Divided Self.

Jim Shepard is the National Book Award-finalist and highly acclaimed author of seven novels and five collections of stories, including The Book of Aron and Like You'd Understand, Anyway.

He lives in Massachusetts with his family and teaches creative writing at the historic liberal arts establishment Williams College.

Widely acclaimed as one of the US's finest writers, The World to Come is the first collection of his short stories to be published in the UK.