(Belgium, 1971) is an author, historian and archaeologist, known for his multifaceted contributions to literature and intellectual discourse. He is currently Philosopher Laureate of the Low Countries. Upon his appointment, he published De wereld en de aarde (The World and the Earth, 2025), in which he makes a groundbreaking proposal to radically broaden our thinking—and our politics. For the greatest security issue of our time is not the world with its mutual conflicts, but the earth, which is becoming increasingly disrupted. His oeuvre covers a range of genres, including historical non-fiction, poetry, and theater. Among his best-known works are Congo (2010), about the country's bewildering history, and Revolusi (2020), which places Indonesia's struggle for independence in a global perspective through eyewitness accounts. In addition to his literary work, Van Reybrouck is known as ‘one of Europe's leading intellectuals’ (Tagesspiegel), whose ideas relate to themes such as democracy, climate, and colonialism. He regularly publishes opinion pieces in international publications. 

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was born in Nigeria. He worked as a lecturer and journalist in Nigeria before he moved to England to become the African Writing Fellow at the University of East Anglia. In 2002 he published his first novel, Waiting for an Angel. His writing has won many prizes including the Caine Prize, 2001, and the Commonwealth Writers Prize, 2003. In 2005/2006 he became the Chinua Achebe Fellow at Bard College, New York.
In 2006 he co-edited the British Council's anthology, New Writing 14. His second novel, Measuring Time, was published in 2007, it won the Virginia Library Foundation Fiction Award, 2008. His third novel, Oil on Water, was published in the US in 2011. His anthology, The Granta Book of the African Short Story came out in September, 2011. Habila teaches Creative Writing at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, where he lives with his wife and three children.

(Zimbabwe, 1971) debuted in 2009 with the short-story collection An Elegy for Easterly, followed by her first novel The Book of Memory (2015) and another story collection, Rotten Row (2016). Her new book Out of Darkness, Shining Light tells the story of the perilous, months-long trek made in 1873 by 69 workers to transport the body of the explorer David Livinstone from central Africa to the Zanzibar coast, so it could eventually be buried in England. "I write the history of the black people of Zimbabwe, those about whom nobody ever speaks." Gappah studied law in Zimbabwe and Cambridge, worked as a lawyer, and lives in Berlin as artist-in-residence. She has won many international prizes for her work.

(Iraq, 1971) fled his country in 1998 after completing architecture studies, was given asylum in the Netherlands and settled there legally in 2007. Since then he has published poetry, novels and collections of his columns. He received the 2000 El Hizjra literature award and the 2011 Literature Prize of the European Union. In 2013 he published Liever niet, antwoordt de liefde (Maybe Not, Was Love's Reply), an anthology of refreshing love poetry. His novel Hoe ik talent voor het leven kreeg (Two Blankets, Three Sheets) tells of his experiences as an asylum seeker in the Netherlands. Al Galidi published the short story collection Duizend-en-een-nachtmerries (A Thousand and One Nightmares) in 2017 and a poem collection Neem de titel serieus (Take the title seriously) in 2018.

(Aruba, 1954) studied Biology in The Netherlands and Law in Aruba. Hij is is thans vice-principal at the Havo/VWO school Colegio Arubano. He made his debut as a writer in 1988 with the collection of short stories Cetilalma y otro cuentanan arubiano. Later he published with ‘printing on demand’ the collections of stories E biento di atardi y otro cuentanan Arubiano (1998), Un anochi y otro cuentanan Arubiano (2005), E barbulet preto y otro cuentanan Arubiano (2007) and 13 cuenta (2012). Gabilan (2009) is his first collection of poems.

(Aruba 1935) started to tell stories and write poetry at a young age. She performed for radio, and published her work. She also wrote for children in the magazine Chabalito. With the story ‘Bruid di Sonrisa’, she was awarded the first prize in the short story contest Conta mi un cuenta in 1981. In 2008 she published five religious poems in the collection Gotanan di Dios. The collection of short stories Un rat’i ora cu Tanta Dora (2011) holds almost fourty stories on traditional folklore of the island, and a number of poems.

(Aruba, 1954) started performing at an early age in her neighbourhood Companashi (Oranjestad), by singing during Christmas time the typical Aguinaldos, the songs that music groups perform in that time of year. At the age of 17 she started singing in shows in hotels in Aruba. The artists she performed with, taught her singing and peforming techniques. She now passes on her knowledge to a younger generation of singers. Sharon Rose performed in the Caribbean, in Latin-America, and in the USA. In 1972 she was the first woman to take part in the “Festival di Tumba” in Aruba, giving way to other women in an event that had been exclusively for men. She was awarded several prizes in her career. By singing gospels she expresses her gratitude to God for the gift of her voice.

(Aruba) is a librarian. He finished his library and documentation studies in The Netherlands in 1975. After returning to Aruba, he worked for the National Library of Aruba, and was a teacher and a course leader for library and archive studies. He was co-founder and chairman of the Fundacion Arubano pa Lectura Papia y Adapta (Aruban Foundation for spoken and adapted reading material).

was cradled in creativity as daughter of Aruban author Nydia Ecury. She is a creative writer and translator, performing poet, story teller, international multilingual voice-artist, photographer, illustrator and graphic designer. Battling autism and an eye-muscle disability that impedes reading, she developed into a pragmatic autodidact, absorbing text by 'content-scanning” and creating her own structured tutoring. Her first poem was born at age four and she shares her passion of word through multilingual works and communication for commercial and social work groups. Caresse wrote and directed multidisciplinary plays like 'Sirena', 'Transparencia' Silence of Soul', 'Hende cu Hende’, 'Formando Nos' and 'Volcan' and creates 'SoulPaintings'; visual-affirmation-portraits to help unleash creative powers of her subjects. She attributes her love of freedom to her Haitian descent and derives her inspiration from the Divine to which she attributes her creative talents. While not adhering to religion, she wrote her favorite poem 'Obada' dedicated to God, later the song 'Scochi' on her first CD. Caresse was commissioned to present her poetry volume 'Chang’é' as national gift to retiring Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Mr. Balkenende and founded United Artists of Aruba and United Artists of Curacao as publisher and marketing support to fellow artists.

(Herten, Nederland, 1939) has been living in Aruba since 1962. Hij has worked in education and experiences the island as his second fatherland. He is a fascinating storyteller. In his work the traditional and modern Aruba is often the subject. So far he published four novels: ‘Tranen om de ara’ (1998), ‘Eilandzigeuner’ (2000), ‘De roep van de troepiaal’ (2004) and ‘Devah’ (2010). He also published literature for children. In 2012 a collection of his Aruban short stories will be published.

(Aruba) was born in a family of music-lovers. Inspired by her parents she started singing in church at early age. At the age of fourteen she was a member of the wellknown choir “Vivons en Chantant”. After her studies in Holland she return to Aruba, where she started singing again. In 1997 she studied at the Skol di Musica Rufo Wever. Two years later she became a member of the Ars Nova choir. Elisabeth performed in seval concerts, and gave solo performances at religous, social and cultural events on the island. In the choire Ars Nova she performed in the Netherlands, Cuba, Spain and Colombia.

(Aruba) is a musican, and teacher at the music shool Scol di Musica Rufo Wever. He plays the guitar, curata, mandolin and violin. Hij speelt gitaar, cuarta, mandoline en viool. As a guitar pleyer he accompanies the Ars Nova choir. . Ryan Maduro will accompany the singers Elisabeth Pope and Sharon Rose at the Crusa Lama festival of 2012.