Chiara Stangalino worked for many years for one of Italy's leading publishing houses. She is now a freelance festival organiser, responsible amongst other things for the Courmayeur Noir in Festival literary events and Festarch, the Sardinian architecture festival. She has also directed a documentary film about American crime writer Joe R. Lansdale. She lives in Turin, Italy. Maxim Jakubowski is a British editor and writer. Following a long career in book publishing, during which time he was responsible for several major crime imprints, he opened London's specialist mystery bookshop Murder One. He reviews crime-fiction for The Guardian, runs London's Crime Scene Festival, and is a regular at Italian crime events.