Caryl Phillips is the award-winning author of eleven novels, four stage plays and five volumes of non-fiction, in addition to numerous radio plays, scripts and essays. His latest fiction, A View of the Empire at Sunset (2018), focuses on the life of Dominican-born writer Jean Rhys. Identity, migration and history are among the main themes of his writing, which also stands out for its formal daring.

Bénédicte Ledent is honorary professor at the University of Liège. She has published extensively on Caryl Phillips and has worked on numerous editorial projects, the latest of which is a special issue of The Journal of Commonwealth Literature, edited in collaboration with Daria Tunca and devoted to postcolonial biographical fiction. She is co-editor of the book series Cross/Cultures.