William Dalrymple is one of Britain and India’s great historians, celebrated for bringing scholarship, storytelling and political insight to the long arc of empire. He began his career at 22 with In Xanadu, documenting his journey across Marco Polo’s route, and has since published a catalogue of award-winning books that have shaped modern understanding of South Asian history.

He is best known for The Company Quartet, a four-book series documenting the rise and fall of the East India Company, and for a body of work that includes the Wolfson Prize-winning White Mughals, The Last Mughal (Duff Cooper Prize) and Return of a King (Hemingway and Kapuściński Awards). His recent book The Golden Road explores how ancient Indian ideas influenced the world and was shortlisted for the British Academy Book Prize.

Beyond writing, William co-founded the Jaipur Literature Festival and is a frequent broadcaster, having written and presented three television series, one of which won the Grierson Award for Best Documentary Series at the Baftas. He is a fellow of multiple learned societies and a winner of major international honours including the British Academy President’s Medal. He lives with his family on a farm outside Delhi.

Anita Anand is an award-winning journalist, broadcaster and author. Over her career, she has covered the Pakistani elections, tracked India’s most-wanted criminal in Portugal, reported on the earthquake in Bhuj and interviewed four presidents from South Asia, eight prime ministers from the subcontinent and three British prime ministers.

Alongside co-hosting Empire, she hosts BBC Radio 4’s long-running Saturday phone-in Any Answers? and has presented a wide range of major programmes across BBC Radio 4 and BBC Two - from Newsnight to Daily Politics, The Sunday Politics and more. She began her journalism career after graduating from King’s, joining Zee TV, where she became European head of news and current affairs by 25, making her one of the youngest TV news editors in Britain.

Anita is also a trailblazing author, whose books illuminate lesser-known characters and histories spanning Britain and India. Her titles include Sophia: Princess, Suffragette, Revolutionary, Koh-i-Noor and The Patient Assassin, which won the PEN Hessell-Tiltman Prize (2020). Born in London to Punjabi parents and raised in Essex, Anita’s first language was Urdu and she is also fluent in Hindi. She lives in southwest London with her family.