Alex Preston is an award-winning author and journalist. He is the author of three novels, most recently the critically-acclaimed In Love and War, as well as the bestselling literary history of birds, As Kingfishers Catch Fire. His short stories have appeared several times in the Best British Short Stories anthology and he writes regularly for the Observer, the Telegraph and Harper's Bazaar. He is Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Kent.

The Balvenie Single Malt Scotch Whisky is crafted by William Grant & Sons Ltd, an award-winning family-owned distiller founded by William Grant in 1886 and still independently owned. It is the only distillery that still grows its own barley, uses traditional floor maltings and keeps both coppersmiths and coppers on site - making The Balvenie the most handcrafted of single malts.