The pioneer in the Writer's Residency Programme, Pico Iyer is the author of more than a dozen books, translated into 23 languages, including such long-running readers’ favourites as Video Night in Kathmandu, The Lady and the Monk and The Global Soul. For more than a quarter-century, he has been a frequent contributor to Time, The New York Times, Financial Times and more than 200 other periodicals worldwide. In recent years, he has also given four talks for TED, which have received more than eight million views so far. Born in Oxford, England, he graduated from Eton, Oxford and Harvard, and in 2019 was Ferris Professor of Journalism at Princeton. To purchase a copy of This Could Be Home, visit Raffles Arcade.

Aspiring New Zealander author Vicki Virtue, coming in second in the Writer's Residency Programme after Pico Iyer, is a seasoned travel journalist having journeyed to over fifty countries and currently contributes to a variety of leading newspapers and magazines. The former senior executive in the advertising industry has always been drawn, through a sense of mystique and adventure, to travel where few tourists dare to tread. Alongside her love of travel and adventure, Vicki’s other great passion is literature. Inspired by her childhood memories of reading detective masterpieces and Golden Age mysteries, Vicki aims to capture the glamour and elegance when one dressed for dinner and journeyed in style, embracing a modern take on the classic whodunit that is light-hearted and glamourous.