Irmgard Kirchner was born in 1959 in Innsbruck in Tyrol. After leaving school moved to Vienna in order to study cultural and social anthropology and psychology. She turned the skills that she had learned - research, speak to people, listen, and ask relevant questions – into a lifelong career in journalism. Following more than twenty years as editor in chief of Südwind, a magazine devoted to international politics, culture, and development, she still devotes herself to writing today, except when she is watching insects and birds in the wildlife haven that is her garden.

Santacitta Bhikkhuni, born Sylvia Helga Bayer in Austria, grew up in a hotel environment and traveled extensively with her family. After hotel management school and studies in cultural anthropology in Vienna, she worked in theatre before her travels to Thailand sparked an interest in Buddhism. Following personal losses, she visited Wat Suan Mokkh and learned to meditate. After a brief marriage and further experiences in Thailand, she moved to Amaravati monastery in England, where she became an anagarika and later a siladhara named Santacitta. Becoming increasingly aware of gender limitations in the monastery, she later traveled and explored Tibetan Buddhism. In 2011, she and a fellow nun left the Ajahn Chah lineage and were ordained as bhikkhunis. They established Aloka Vihara forest monastery in California, later founding the Aloka Earth Room, focusing on Dharma, ecology, and art.

Gwen Clayton was born in 1971 in Cambridge, England. She grew up in Canton Thurgau and Cambridge, and spent many happy childhood holidays visiting her German grandparents in the Black Forest. She read Japanese studies at the University of Oxford, then trained as a solicitor, working in commercial law firms in London, Tokyo, and Zurich. She has been active as a professional translator for the last sixteen years, specializing in law and the humanities. For further details, please see www.perfectlyphrased.com.