George Eliot is the pen name of Mary Ann Evans (1819-1880), one of the most highly regarded writers who ever lived. Her novels include Scenes of Clerical Life (1858), Adam Bede (1859), The Mill on the Floss (1860), Silas Marner (1861), Middlemarch (1871-2) and Daniel Deronda (1876).

Nina Raine is a theatre director and playwright.

Her original stage plays include: Bach & Sons (Bridge Theatre, London, 2021); Stories (National Theatre, 2018); Consent (National Theatre, 2017; West End, 2018); Tiger Country (Hampstead Theatre, London, 2011); Tribes (Royal Court, London, 2010, and Barrow Street Theatre, New York; winner of the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award and Drama Desk Award); and Rabbit (Old Red Lion and West End, 2006; winner of the Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Playwright).

She has written stage adaptations of George Eliot's Middlemarch (Royal Shakespeare Company, 2026) and, with Moses Raine, of Maxim Gorky's Summerfolk (National Theatre, London, 2026).