All contributors to the anthology are graduates of the MA in Creative Writing at Bath Spa University. The thirty-five authors, the editor, editorial board and cover designer were all students on the course in 2003/04. Since then, some of these writers have gained agents, had their work recognised in literary competitions such as The Bridport Prize, or broadcast on BBC Radio 4. A number had already published novels, children's books, journalism, short fiction or had plays performed before they began the course.

The novelist and short story writer Tessa Hadley, who provides the book's introduction, is herself a past graduate of the MA programme, as well as having taught many emerging writers on the course.