Don George wrote the book on travel writing, literally. His book, Lonely Planet’s Guide to Travel Writing, is the best-selling travel writing guide in the world. Don has been a pioneering travel writer and editor for 40 years. He has been the travel editor at the San Francisco Examiner and the San Francisco Chronicle, founder and editor of Salon's "Wanderlust" travel site, and global travel editor for Lonely Planet. He is currently an editor at large and columnist for National Geographic Traveler and the editor of BBC Travel’s "Words and Wanderlust" section. Don is the cofounder and chairman of the renowned Book Passage Travel Writers and Photographers Conference. He has visited 90 countries and has published hundreds of articles in dozens of magazines, newspapers, and websites worldwide. He has also edited ten award-winning literary travel anthologies. He speaks and teaches regularly at conferences and on campuses around the world, and he is frequently interviewed on TV, radio, and online as a travel expert. He lives in Piedmont, CA.

Pico Iyer was born in Oxford, England to parents from India, and he was educated at Eton, Oxford, and Harvard. He is the author of many best-selling books, including Video Night in Kathmandu, The Global Soul, The Lady and the Monk, and The Art of Stillness. Since 1992 he has been based in rural Japan with his longtime sweetheart, while spending part of each year in a Benedictine hermitage in California.