(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.

(The Netherlands, 1970) is a presenter, producer, actor and voice-over artist specializing in music, literature, arts and culture. After graduating as actor from the Toneelschool Amsterdam he was a member, among others, of the ensemble of the Nationale Toneel. He was a presenter at Amsterdam-based broadcaster AT5 and a radio producer with the KRO on national network NPO Radio 1. He narrates audio books, and was shortlisted for the Storytel Award 2019 for Best Audio Book with his reading of Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer's novel Grand Hotel Europa. Until last year, he presented on radio station Sublime the daily morning show Sublime Sunrise, the Instagram poetry programme Sublime Smooth and evening show The Sublime Experience. In 2025 he wrote and hosted the tv-series Kringlopen met Francis on regional Dutch broadcaster NH. Broekhuijsen works for Writers Unlimited as festival curator and presenter.

Go to the website of Francis Broekhuijsen
Instagram: @francisbroekhuijsen

(Belgium, 1982) debuted in 2014 with her poetry collection Deze zachte witte kamer (This Soft White Room), which won the Herman De Coninck debut prize and was nominated for the C. Buddingh Prize. She does regular readings and organizes small poetry festivals. For her, poetry is "a means to exercise control over what is uncontrollable, with a pen for a weapon and my magnifying glass for a shield." She writes about everything: "what I read in magazines about psychology and science, or something I saw, a man in a suit and yellow sneakers... Yet mainly it's people who inspire me: weaknesses and neuroses, beauty in ugliness: the death of my father, and the fact that my daughter's fingernails have the same shape as his did." In her book and on her website, Svetlikova pays a lot of attention to design. Not surprisingly: besides language and literature, she also studied graphic design.

(Amsterdam, NL, 1962) studied jazz guitar at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. He admires Django Reinhardt but is also inspired by contemporary guitarists like Jim Hall, Jimmy Raney, Pat Martino, and Boulou Ferre, as well as Eastern European (gypsy) music. Voet has played in a number of his own ensembles (Cravat Quartet with Hady Mouallem and Deux-Creme-Deux with guitarist Henk de Geus) and performed with guitarists Jimmy Rosenberg and Fapy Lafertin, klezmer clarinettist Marcel Salomon, and artist/violinist Armando. Together with Dick van der Harst, he worked with the musical theatre troupe Het Muziek LOD. His biggest current project is Reinier Voet and Pigalle44, a collaboration with guitarist Jan Brouwer.