Arthur Koestler CBE was a prolific writer of essays, novels, and autobiographies. He was born into a Hungarian Jewish family in Budapest but, apart from his early school years, was educated in Austria. His early career was in journalism. In 1931, he joined the Communist Party of Germany but, disillusioned with Stalinism, he resigned from it in 1938. In 1940, he published his anti-Communist novel, Darkness at Noon, which propelled him to instant international fame.

Over the next 43 years, Koestler espoused many political causes and wrote novels, memoirs, biographies, and numerous essays. In 1949, he began secretly working with a British Cold War anti-communist propaganda department known as the Information Research Department (IRD). The IRD republished and distributed many of his works and also funded his activities. In 1968, he was awarded the Sonning Prize for his outstanding contribution to European culture, and in 1972, he was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE).

In 1976, Koestler was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and in 1979 with terminal leukaemia. On 1 March 1983, Koestler and his wife Cynthia died of suicide together at their London home by swallowing lethal quantities of barbiturate-based Tuinal capsules.