(Suriname, 1936) made her writer's debut with Hoe duur was de suiker? (How Costly Was the Sugar?, 1987), the novel that made her the most famous Surinamese writer overnight and was adapted for film in 2013. She was the first to describe the history, the slaving past and the colonization of her country from a Surinamese perspective. As an expert in the field, she lectures about the history of slavery at US and Canadian universities and organizes educational field and city trips. She has written historic novels, including De Vrije Negerin Elisabeth, gevangene van kleur (The Free Negress Elizabeth, Prisoner of Colour, 1992), as well as studies, children's books and children's musicals. Her No kwik in het bos (No Mercury in the Forest, 2017) is a YA novel about a ten-year-old girl and the dangers of mercury in the gold-mining process. McLeod is a daughter of Johan Ferrier, the first president of Suriname.

(Suriname, 1956), a Dutch jazz singer and voice teacher of Surinemese origin, has performed around the world for Nelson Mandela and Bill Clinton, among others. From 2013 to 2016 she toured the Netherlands with Ella!, a production that will be staged again in 2017, the centenary of Ella Fitzgerald's birth. Jannah won two Edisons and appeared seven times at the North Sea Jazz Festival. She was the first Dutch performer to land a record contract with the prestigious jazz label Blue Note. Jannah has performed with musicians such as Chick Corea, Frank Boeijen, the Rosenberg Trio and Willem Breuker. For this festival in 2002, she set poems to music from the Netherlands, Suriname, the Antilles, South Africa and Indonesia. She took the same program to literary festivals in Utrecht, Suriname, the Antilles, South Africa and Indonesia. In 2015 she toured Russia and appeared in Dutch theatres in a musical production about the battle for emancipation of two women in Suriname.

(Curaçao, 1936) studied Dutch Language and Literature at Leyden University. He lectured at Amsterdam University and from 1975 to 1981 taught at a teacher training college in Surinam. After that he returned to Curaçao to be appointed head of the Instituto Lingkwistiko Antiano. He founded a Papiamento secondary school based on humanistic principles: the Kolegio Erasmo. He writes stories, essays, poetry and novels. His successful debut novel Dubbelspel (Double Play, 1973) is presently being adapted for the screen. Following Dubbelspel the novels Nobele wilden (Noble savages, 1979) and De laatste vrijheid (The last freedom 1995) appeared, which won him the Cola Debrot Prize in 2001. In November 2001 the collection of stories De eeuwige hond (The eternal dog) appeared. His latest novel De deserteurs (The deserters) was published in 2006.

(Netherlands, 1945) writes novels, stories, essays, lectures and columns with a strong historical bent. She debuted with 1987's Tine of de dalen waar het leven woont (Tine, or the Valleys Where Life Lives), a fictitious biography of 19th-century Dutch writer Multatuli's first wife. Her book De naam van de vader (The Name of the Father) won the 1994 Multatuli Prize. In 2002 she wrote Pelican Bay, about slavery in the Caribbean and the Netherlands. Her essay collection Schatplicht (Tribute) appeared in 2013, and her 2016 novel Aan het eind van de dag (At the End of the Day) is simultaneously a portrait of a career woman and a snapshot of the second half of the 20th century. De val van Thomas G. (The fall of Thomas G.) tells about the publisher of a controversial book. Noordervliet's body of work was awarded the 2018 Constantijn Huygens Prize.

(Aruba, 1957) is one of St. Martin’s better-known poets who writes with notable dedication. He has lived in Trinidad and the Netherlands. In the 1980s he made St. Martin his home, and here first book, Illegal Truth (1991) was published under the name of Ras Changa. From the mid-1980s to the early 1990s, he became well known as a believer in RastaFari. His thunderous voice is heard often at various cultural events. Changa's work was recently published in an anthology of St. Martin writing. The multicultural aspect of the island is central to his work. More than 70 nations live on this Caribbean Island of which some part still ‘belongs’ to the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The original population has become a minority and this has some strange, downright colonial effects. Europeans, for example, can live on the island without immigration restrictions, but Caribbean migrants must apply for a visa.
Hickinson toured with Winternachten in Indonesia and the Netherlands Antilles, and performed at the festival in The Hague.

(Diep Rivier, South Africa) grew up as the eldest of seven children in a muslim family. As a child of twelve she wrote her first story, and sent it to Springbok Radio. She left South Africa in 1968, and lived in Canada for 27 years. Her first book, 'The Middle Childeren', was published in Canada in 1994. After this she went back to South Africa. Three novels followed: Eyes of the Sky, The Slave Book, and Sachs Street. In The Slave Book she describes a love story of two slaves in 19th century South Africa, a love crossing the boundaries of tradition, culture and religion. She also wrote articles, presented radio-pogrammes on culture, identity and religion, and made three television documentaries. WIN 2003

(Grobogan, Mid-Java, 1965) studied Indonesian language and literature in Jakarta, was a student of the famous poet Rendra and acted for a long time in Rendra's Bengkel Theater. Following this, Srengenge founded the Matahari Theater. His poems were published in magazines such as Horison, Republika and Media Indonesia. He published amongst others Persetubuhan Liar (Wild lovemaking) (1992). In Jakarta he participated in the Istuqual International Poetry Reading and Workshop. He has been invited several times to take part in the Winternachten festival in The Hague. Srengenge is very much involved in the Utan Kayu Theater, an alternative cultural centre in Jakarta. His style of reading is very theatrical, and the context of his work is very much involved with the social development within Indonesia. For example, he has written a number of poems inspired by his stay in East Timor during the struggles for independance.
WIN 2003

(Saba,1978) ) is a native of the Dutch Caribbean islands of Saba and St. Maarten and has been writing poetry and short stories for the past 20 years. Her work mainly focuses on matters dear to her heart including the Caribbean region, politics, love, family and the arts. She is also the founder and coordinator of Summer Speaks and Winter’s Words, two annual poetry events which give a platform to local, up and coming poets and spoken word artists on the island of St. Maarten.

is head of the Women's Desk of the Government of Sint Maarten. She is the co-host of the radio talkshow "Conversations", advisor to the Conscious Lyrics Foundation and former interimhead of the Department of Culture. She is an amateurartist in dance and drama.

(Guyana, 1957) is one of St.Martin’s leading playwrights and theater directors. He is the author of Masquerade (1988), Separate Status> (2000), Peacock Dance I (2001), Peacock Dance II (2002), and Breaking All The Rules (2003) - all well-received plays. House of Nehesi Publishers published Valz’s first book, Masquerade, containing his first three-act play of the same name, in 1988. Masquerade was short listed for Guyana's Literary Prize (1990) and beat out most of the candidates to be placed runner-up to the winning playwright Dr. Michael Gilkes. Shortly thereafter, and with good reviews in St. Martin, Guyana, Barbados and in The Caribbean Writer, director Ron Robinson set out from Guyana with a band of thespians from the international theater (TTI) and took Masquerade across the Caribbean Sea to Barbados, Antigua, and St. Kitts. Valz’s plays have also been performed in St. Lucia, Trinidad and Jamaica. He regularly gives theater workshops and lectures in St. Martin and Guyana, where he was born in 1957. St. Martin has been Valz’s home since 1984, and he was featured in the book St. Martin Massive! A Snapshot of Popular Artists (2000), as one of the nation’s top 20 artists at the turn of the century.
WIN/House of Nehesi 2003