Natsume Sōseki (1867 - 1916) was a Japanese novelist, widely recognized as one of the most outstanding Japanese writers of the Meiji period. He began writing haikus and literary sketches, and first achieved acclaim for his satirical novel I Am a Cat, published in 1905. Subsequent novels including Sanshiro, Kusamakura and Kokoro established him as an unparalleled novelist of loneliness, isolation and the profound changes to Japanese society that occurred with the end of the Meiji period.

Edwin McClellan (1925-2009) was a British teacher, translator, and scholar of Japanese literature and culture. He was honoured with the Order of the Rising Sun, the Kikuchi Kan Prize for literature (1994), and the Noma Prize for literary translation (1995).