(Syria, 1930), the favourite poet of Rotterdam's Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb, is considered a contender for the Nobel Prize for Literature. After studying philosophy in Damascus, he moved to Beirut and then Paris. His most famous volume, The Songs of Mihyar of Damascus, was published in 1961. His poems, essays, letters and interviews are often translated, especially into French. He broke with the formal structure of Arabic poetry and experimented with free verse and prose poems. In Arabic, Adonis wrote: "To write poetry in this language [...] means to unveil the invisible and reveal the abyss of absence that that distinguishes us from the unseen." In his work, he distances himself from Islam but holds up a mirror to the West, which fails to honour its thinkers and poets an thereby stands in the way of mutual understanding between East and West. His first anthology of work translated into Dutch, Wat blijft (What Remains), will come out during the festival.

(Morocco, 1973) is a journalist, columnist, translator, researcher and producer. She publishes in various media (including Dutch national daily newspaper NRC and women's magazine Linda); runs her own online magazine for culture lovers, Aicha Qandisha. She compiled a story collection about Arab women, Achter de sluier (Behind the Veil, 1999); 2013 saw the publication of her book Arabieren kijken (Looking at Arabs), about "ordinary" people in the Arab world. She made TV programs for various broadcasters, including the documentary series Seks en de Zonde (Sex and Sin). Together with Michelin-starred chef Soenil Bahadoer, she wrote the culinary books Spicy Chef (2020) and Streetfood (2022). She published two further books in 2022: Een koffer vol citroenen (A Suitcase Full of Lemons), a requiem for and portrait of her mother, and Arbeidsmigranten in Nederland (Migrant Labourers in the Netherlands).

(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.