(Voorburg, 1966) studied political science in Amsterdam. He is a columnist for the daily Volkskrant and for TM, a magazine for the performing arts. He has presented radio and TV programmes and is a playwright. He wrote the plays Lijfstraf (Corporal Punishment), Spong, Stemvee (Voting Cattle), Afstammelingen (Descendents) and Hetze (Smear Campaign). Together with Rik Delhaas he wrote the satire Willens en Wetens (Wittingly). In 2001 he published De Wraak van de Publieke Zaak (The Revenge of Public Interest), a critical study of the latest trends in public government. In 2005 his fiction debut Souffleur van de Macht (Prompter of Power) was published.

(Roermond, NL, 1965) studied Arabic and Middle East studies. Her second book was published in 2012: Het andere Arabische geluid (The Other Arab Voice), about voices of humanity and hope during the hectic transition period in the new Middle East. Her first book Dromen van een Arabische lente (Dreaming of an Arab Spring, 2008) was about the life and work of a human-rights diplomat in the Arab world. In both books she goes in search of the kind of stories that get little attention in Western media. Currently, Stienen is a publicist and independent consutant. She writes for NRC Handelsblad and De Volkskrant newspapers, has a column in the women's monthly magazine Opzij, and reguarly appears as a commentator on radio and television programmes and in debates at home and abroad.