Ellah Allfrey

Ellah Allfrey is deputy editor of Granta magazine. She was previously Senior Editor at Jonathan Cape, Random House, having started her publishing career at Penguin Books. She has published many distinguished African writers including Ngugi wa Thiongo and Chinua Achebe (in Penguin Modern Classics) as well as Brian Chikwava, Peter Akinti, Dinaw Mengestu and Yaba Badoe.

Jon Cook

Jon Cook is a Professor of Literature and Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at the University of East Anglia. He has written a number of books of criticism and biography, including, most recently, Hazlitt in Love published in 2007. He has worked with a number of former Caine Prize winners during their time as fellows or students at UEA and has been closely involved in the development of creative writing at the University over a number of years. He is a member of the Arts Council.

Hisham Matar

Hisham Matar is a novelist. His first novel, “In the Country of Men”, was shortlisted for the 2006 Man Booker Prize, won prizes in the UK, Italy and America and has been translated into twenty-seven languages. Matar’s articles and essays have appeared in Alsharq Alawsat, The Guardian, The Independent, The New York Times, El Pais and the New Statesman.

Samantha Pinto

Samantha Pinto is an Assistant Professor at the University of Georgetown in Washington DC. She has written on women’s issues, Caribbean sexuality and African American literature, and teaches courses on African writing, sexuality and Global cultural studies among other subjects.

Fiammetta Rocco (Chair)

Fiammetta Rocco is a third-generation Kenyan. She was educated at Oxford University where she read Arabic. Her investigative journalism has won awards on both sides if the Atlantic. She is now the literary editor of The Economist and the author of "The Miraculous Fever Tree: The Cure that Changed the World".