Bernard Kops (1926-2024) emerged out of the fifties 'angry young man' explosion and quickly established himself as a one-man opposition to the intellectual and political hypocrisies which engulfed the theatre Establishment of that chaotic era. Shalom Bomb takes its name from the author's poem, which expresses his anguish at living in a dangerous world. Kops was winner of the Time Out award for Best Play of 1993 for Dreams of Anne Frank. His plays are informed by his childhood poverty and also by the Second World War that followed, which none of his Dutch-Jewish relatives survived.

Stephen Turnbull is the world's leading English language authority on medieval Japan and the samurai. He has travelled extensively in the far east, particularly in Japan and Korea and is the author of The Samurai - A Military History and Men-at-Arms 86 Samurai Armies 1550-1615.

Howard Gerrard has been a freelance designer and illustrator for over 20 years. He has worked for a number of publishers, and is an associate member of the Guild of Aviation Artists.