Franz Kafka (1883-1924) was born in Prague into a German-speaking Czech Jewish family. He received little recognition for his writing during his lifetime but is now celebrated as one of the most influential authors of the 20th century. His rise to fame happened after his death when, against explicit instructions written in his will, his close friend and literary executor Max Brod decided to publish Kafka's unfinished work. It is through these posthumous publications that his work received the recognition it deserved. His name has now become a byword for alienation and guilt - and his work is both harrowing and humorous, featuring individuals caught up in an impersonal and bureaucratic world over which they have increasingly little power. He is now one of the most celebrated classic novelist in the German language.

Will Aaltonen Pearson worked for the Royal Navy for seven years before winning a scholarship ran to Ruskin Workers' College, Oxford. From there, he went on to study French and German at Oriel College. He has been a writer for the best part of thirty years, working in television, newspapers, magazines and books. As 'Will Pearson', he has ghost-written several top ten best-sellers, and published other, non-fiction books on a wide range of subjects. His translations include Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis and Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha, both for Arcturus Publishing.