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Warren C. Graves (The Mumberley Inheritance) was born in London, England, in 1933. He was involved in community theatre in the U.K. before moving with his family to Alberta in 1964, and initially worked as an assistant clerk at the Alberta legislature. In 1968 Graves' first play, Yes, Dear, won the Edmonton Journal writing competition. Graves left his government job to become a full-time writer in 1974, and by the 1980s his work was being produced professionally. He died in Lethbridge, Alta., in 2008.

Robert Louis Stevenson (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde) was born in Edinburgh in 1850. An only child who was frequently ill, he wrote stories from a young age and became active in London literary circles in his early 20s. Though he studied law, Stevenson never practiced it. His first successful novel was Treasure Island, which was followed by several others including Dr. Jekyll, Kidnapped and The Master of Ballantrae. He also wrote poetry, nonfiction and three plays. Stevenson died in 1894 at the age of 44.

Born in 1923, Earl Hamner Jr. (The Homecoming) was an American television writer and producer best known for his work in the 1970s and 1980s as the creator of two long-running series, The Waltons and Falcon Crest. As a novelist, he is best known for Spencer's Mountain, which was inspired by his own childhood and formed the basis for both the film of the same name and The Waltons TV series. His short novel The Homecoming features the same setting and characters as Spencer's Mountain. He died in 2016.

Athol Fugard (The Road to Mecca) was born in Middelburg, South Africa in 1932. He began writing in the mid-1950s while working on a ship in East Asia. He became an outspoken opponent of apartheid, which brought him into conflict with the South African government. His more than 30 plays include Sizwe Banzi is Dead, "Master Harold" ... and the Boys, and Boesman and Lena. In 1985 Time magazine called him "the greatest active playwright in the English-speaking world," and he won a Tony Award in 2010 for lifetime achievement in the theatre.

Born in Brockton, Mass., John Cariani (Almost, Maine) was eight when his family moved to Presque Isle, Maine. After studying acting and directing in Massachusetts, he moved to New York to pursue acting. He has appeared in four Broadway productions including Fiddler on the Roof and Something Rotten, and played the role of forensic expert Julian Beck on Law and Order from 2002 to 2007. His other plays include cul-de-sac, Last Gas and Love/Sick.

Kevin Kerr (Unity (1918)) is a playwright and founding member of Vancouver’s Electric Company Theatre, and teaches playwriting and screenwriting at the University of Victoria. He received the 2002 Governor General’s Literary Award for Unity (1918), which has been produced more than 100 times across Canada and around the world. Other plays include Skydive, Spine, The Remittance Man, Secret World of Og, and The Night’s Mare. He also co-wrote the feature film adaptation of The Score for CBC Television.

Douglas Bowie (Decrepitude Blues) fell into a writing career when he entered a CBC TV contest on a whim while working as a copywriter for an Ottawa ad agency. His teleplay Who Was the Lone Ranger? won a top prize, went on to be produced, and launched a 30-year career. He has written film, television and radio scripts, including the Gemini Award winning Love and Larceny and the CBC miniseries Empire, Inc., which won several ACTRA awards. In mid-career, Bowie began writing plays, including The Noble Pursuit, Rope's End (produced by Domino in 2009) and !SGODSDOGS!. He lives in Kingston.