A producer at France Inter for over twenty years, Philippe Collin studied history and has always maintained a strong interest in the field. In 2021, he created a series of historical podcasts that have been downloaded 40 million times. He is also a graphic-novel writer and co-author of Le Voyage de Marcel Grob (2018), inspired by the story of his great-uncle during the Second World War. The Barman of the Ritz , his first novel, has been translated into 30 languages and was a runaway bestseller in his native France, selling 350,000 copies to date. Frank Wynne is an Irish literary translator, writer and editor. He has translated more than a hundred French and Hispanic novels by authors including Michel Houellebecq, Patrick Modiano, Javier Cercas and Virginie Despentes. Over a career spanning more than twenty-five years, his work has twice earned him the Dublin Literary Award, he has been awarded the Scott Moncrieff Prize on three occasions and the Premio Valle Inclán twice. Most recently, his translation of The Annual Banquet of the Gravediggers Guild by Mathias Énard won the 2024 French-American Prize. He was the first translator to chair the jury for the International Booker Prize.

Philippe Collin is a compellingly brilliant story-teller