is the pseudonym for Robby Jonathan Parabirsing (Paramaribo, 1954). He made his debut in 1980 with Friktie Tories, a collection of humorous and socially critical stories. Others works by him are Opa Djannie en andere verhalen (Granddad Djannie and other stories), Een vlek uit het verleden (A stain from the past) (1982), Silvy en Hexa en andere verhalen (Silvy and Hexa and other stories) (1983), Fromoe Archie (1984), De Tapoe (1995), Verdwaald in het bos (Lost in the woods) (1998) and the collection Nieuwe Friktie Tories (New Friktie Tories) (1999). Rappa's publishing house Ralicon acts as an excellent sounding board for many debutants. Ralicon published amongst others the first edition of the well known book Ter dood veroordeeld (Condemned to death) by John de Bye. To stimulate reading, Rappa publishes a reader, entitled De stripbieb (Strip Library) , which contains short stories and critical, humorous and cynical sayings. In daily life Rappa is a teacher of Dutch language and literature.

(Jidt Narainsingh Baldewsingh, Livorno, Surinam, 1948) Born in Suriname, Jit Narain is the grandson of Indian immigrants. In 1969 he went to the Netherlands to study medicine and became a doctor in The Hague. He returned to Suriname in 1991. Since then he has been heading the head of an outpatients clinic in Saramacca. He is a fervent defender of the emancipation of Sarnami, the Hindu-Surinamese language and for his efforts received the Rahman Khan prize. Narain writes poems which can be read and sung. The poems reflect the history and memories of Hindustan immigrants in Suriname. He writes in Sarnami and in Dutch, approaching the same secret history of immigrants from different perspectives. He made his debut in 1977 with the poetry collection in Sarnami Dal Bhat Chatni (Rice, yellow peas and chutney). His debut has been followed by six other collections of poetry.

(Winterswijk, 1944) was the first Poet Laureate of the Netherlands. He is considered one of the best columnists in the country, a novelist, renowned translator, and an enhtusiastic reviewer of poetry. Komrij is a cat in a Strange Warehouse, as he called a book of collected essays that came out in 2001. The world is never a trusted or obvious place, but if you look good, there's always something surprising around. 'I don't think I'm a no-nonsense guy. There's too much noise inside of me'. Komrij, who has lived in Portugal since 1984, is one of the most productive Dutch writers. Since 1968 he has published several works annually. Recently Komrij's choice of the one-hundred best Dutch poems (2008) appeared, in addition to an anthology of Dutch children's poetry in over 1000 poems (2007) and Kakafonie (2006), an 'encyclopaedia of shit'. In 2005 he published Eendagsvliegen (Ephemera, literary diary entries) and a volume of poetry Fata Morgana.

(Paramaribo, 1948) is a poet, writer, reciter and does school theatre. She has published two volumes of poetry: Akwenda Streven en Ma Awitya. 'My biggest inspiration are the grandma's from the working-class area I used to live when I was a kid. Furthermore all the single mothers who have to work hard to raise their children.' She was honoured on several occasions, for instance when she got the Kwakoe Award for her contribution to Surinamese art. She gives workshops at primary and secondary schools. She is a contributor to the Studium Generale of the Hogeschool in Rotterdam. In Amsterdam she is busy with the workshop Life Lines. Here themes are: the power of women, apartheid, hope, love and everything that moves her.

(Istanbul, 1967) studied computer science and physics at the university of Bogazici. Up until 1992 she worked as a physicist at the European Nuclear Research Centre (CERN). She has also taught English for two years in South America, writes for the magazine Atlas and from 1998 to 2000 had a weekly column in the newspaper Radikal. In 1994 Erdogan made her debut with the novel Kabuk Adam. After that her collection of stories Mucizevi Mandarin (1996) and her very succesful second novel Kirmizi Pelerinli Kent ( City in a red cape) (1998) were published. This stifling novel is situated in Rio de Janeiro. In 1990 Erdogan was awarded the Deutsche Welle Preis for one of her unpublished short stories. The main themes in her works are: violence against women, the situation in prisons and Kurdish rights.