Indre Balcikonyte-Huang was born in Vilnius, Lithuania. She has a Bachelor s degree in Chinese with Economics from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, and a Master's degree in Modern and Contemporary Chinese Literature from Fudan University in Shanghai. Fluent in Mandarin, Indre has lived in China for more than ten years. Previously responsible for communications at a cross-border consultancy helping Western companies enter the Chinese market, she is now an independent translator, writer, and researcher. She currently lives in central Shanghai with her Shanghainese husband and son.

Kathy Flower has worked in the UK and China as a BBC radio producer, TV presenter, scriptwriter, teacher, and trainer. She spent four years with the British Council in Paris, and was co-presenter of an English-language teaching series on French TV. This led her to Beijing, where she presented China s first major English-language teaching series, Follow Me, on Chinese TV. She became known to hundreds of millions of enthusiastic Chinese viewers as Fay-lau-ah laoshi, or Teacher Flower. Back in London she joined BBC World Service Radio. Kathy has returned to China many times to work and travel. She now teaches international students, including many young Chinese enrolled at British universities, and lives in Hampshire and southern France.