(Nijmegen, NL, 1960) writes essays, short stories and plays, and is a columnist with the daily newspaper NRC Handelsblad. He published the novels Laatste woorden (Last words) and Suez and received the Henriëtte Roland Holst Prize in 2005. In 2011's Moeten wij van elkaar houden, het populisme ontleed (Do We Have to Love One Another? Populism Dissected) Heijne shows how globalisation and individualism pave the way for populism. Angst en schoonheid (Fear and Beauty) was published in 2013, an essay about Dutch writer Louis Couperus, whom Heijne admires. In the same year his documentary about Couperus was broadcast. In 2015 he hosted the five-part documentary De volmaakte mens (The Perfect Human). In 2016 his essay Onbehagen – nieuw licht op de beschaafde mens (Discontent - new light on civilized man) was published. In 2017 Heijne received the P.C. Hooft Award for his essayistic works.

(Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia, 1968) is a Malaysian writer, poet, actor, photographer and filmmaker. She graduated with a B.Ed in English Literature and TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language) from the University of Winnipeg, Canada, and has worked extensively in the arts for over 20 years. Of Chinese and Punjabi parentage, her work stems from the desire to tell stories, and she has worked with marginalised communities from sex workers and refugees to indigenous peoples, in mediums that incorporate film, photography and prose. She has published two collections of poetry, going there and coming back (1997), The Book of Sins (2008), a collection of short stories, Lost in KL (2008) and a critically-acclaimed memoir Growing Up With Ghosts (2011), an exploration of grief, personal and political history, and bloodlines. She works in both Bahasa Malaysia and English, and her work has been exhibited, screened, published locally and internationally. She is also the founder of Readings and CeritAku, two live literary platforms in Kuala Lumpur, now in its eighth year. She lives in Kuala Lumpur with her two daughters and she keeps a blog of her work at bernicechauly.wordpress.com.

(Libanon, 1956) broke through internationally in 2004 with her debut novel B as in Beirut. The story is told by four different women, who have to learn to cope with the consequences of the civil war. The most penetrating is the story of Warda, who goes crazy with grief and guilt-feelings because her father dies in a bomb attack and she loses her little daughter on top of that. In her second book Wild Mulberries (2008) Iman Humaydan describes life in a small Lebanese village in the 1930s. The main character Sarah is a young girl dreaming of a better future and a meeting with her mother, who fled the village and its patriarchal rules when Sarah was small. Iman Humaydan likewise grew up in a small Lebanese village, but in a tolerant family. Her third novel Hayawat Okhra (Other Lives) came out in 2010. It recounts the life of a woman coming back home after so many years of exile to rediscover her city and past. Hayawat Okhra will be published in English and French by the end of 2011. She studied sociology in Beirut and works as a researcher, journalist, and in launching and implementing development projects in Lebanese rural areas.

(Somalia, 1967) fled her native country and settled in the Netherlands in 1987. First she wanted to become an actress, but now she has made a name for herself as a writer. In her novel Een nagelaten verhaal (A Bequeathed Story (2009), she describes a young woman who, invited by a documentary film maker, returns to her motherland for the first time after 23 years. It turns out to be an emotional journey, as she discovers that the country has been ruined, and little is left of her past. Yasmine Allas has been involved in the public debate in the Netherlands. Her book Ontheemd en toch thuis (Homeless Yet Home, 2006) is a collection of essays on life in the multicultural Netherlands, published in the Volkskrant. She calls a spade a spade and often touches sour spots. To her, religious fanaticism is a divisive element in society and must be battled. Social wrongs have played a role in her work from her debut, Idil, een meisje (Idil, a Girl, 1998), in which she describes the troubled life of a Somali girl and exposes the circumcision of women.

MFA (SUNY College at Brockport) is a dancer, choreographer and teacher. She is the founder of the Imbali Center for Creative Movement, where she teaches dance and “the philosophy and love for dance.” Her master’s thesis is the first study of the Ponum, St. Martin’s national dance. Reyes choreographed the national dance for the Ponum documentary film, which is still in production at House of Nehesi Publishers. Her staged works include Emancipation, In the Company of Women dance-theater (2003), Ponum the Musical – St. Martin’s Dance of Liberation (2003), and St. Martin Is My Home (2006). Reyes is a recipient of the Conscious Lyrics Foundation “Personality of the Year Award” and a teacher at the St. Maarten Academy. In 2004, the John Larmonie Center for Creative Arts named one of its dance halls in honor of this first lady of St. Martin dance. (© 2006 by House of Nehesi Publishers)

(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.

(St. Maarten, 1984) is a poet, an artist and a young professional entrepreneur; daughter of the soil. Graduated in 2002 from the St. Maarten Academy High School as a cum laude student. In 2008 after furthering her studies in the Netherlands Lucinda acquired her Bachelors Degree in Facilities Management Business Administration at the Hanze University of applied sciences. Art and culture is her life passion. Painting and writing are her main means of self expression. In 2008 Lucinda debut as a poet at the Philipsburg Jubilee Library. She is also a member of the One Poet Society.

(St. Maarten) a son of the soil, born and raised. Writing poetry from the tender age of 13; besides being a poet, he is a dancer and a singer. In 1999 Peter left the island to the Netherlands to pursuit his career in Communication Management. He returned home and is currently writing and reciting his poetry when and where ever he get the opportunity to do so.

(Jamaica, 1983)
has an Associates Degree in computer application and Business studies. He also worked as an Information Technology teacher and Librarian. He has a Bachelors of Arts Degree in Elementary Education. He is a rounded artist who has an exceptional passion for poetry. This love for poetry started at a very young age of eight years and took form at about age 12. He now performs poetry at events and poetry shows independently or as a member of the One Poets Scociety. In 2006, he published his first publication: “Educate me”.