(Kenya, 1983) as a child took singing and acting lessons. Now she combines poetry, music and the theatre. In 2011 she recorded the album Introducing Ngwatilo. In Kenya she is called the high priestess of the poetry performance because of her appearance, her performance and the themes she brings up. She performed at various festivals in Africa and Europe. In her Puesic Project she mixes music with poetry, dance and film. Her first collection of poetry Blue Mothertongue (2010) deals with the life in her native city of Nairobi and the African diaspora. For her latest project she wants to turn the stories of twenty rural families into poetry. The result will find its audience through radio, the international media and the digital highway.

(Kenya, 1982) is a communications specialist, with expertise in both corporate and development communications. He is the program officer for the Hivos Foundation Expression and Engagement Program based at the Regional Office for East Africa in Nairobi. Gregg manages many different projects in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. His educational background is English language and Literature and Information Technology. In his formative years he was involved in creating multimedia campaigns for young people in Kenya. He has also participated in international cycling expeditions to support access to clean water, affordable HIV/AIDS healthcare and malaria eradication projects in Africa. He is currently the Creative Director for WiBO Culture, an experimental, self-evolving initiative that envisions an open and connected global community through food, fashion, music, games and stories.

(Curaçao, 1960) is a writer, poet, playwright, actor and teacher. He made his debut in the 90s, and published, among others, books with poems and stories entitled Rueda di fe and Djis kant’i bo. After that he wrote various children’s books and gave presentations at book and theatre festivals in many different countries. He has succesfully presented his monologue Ninga bon on numerous occasions. Another one-man show by Colastica is Fo’i bo kuenta, a tragicomic mixture of stories, poems, sketches, music and songs. He has also participated in international literature festivals, like Een zee van verlangen (2001), Winternachten and Krusa Laman at The Hague, Curaçao, Aruba and Bonaire. In 2006 he received the highest cultural award in Curaçao, namely the Premio Cola Debrot for his work in the field of dramaturgy and theatre. He wrote Vuurwerk in mijn hoofd (Fireworks in my Head), a youth novel in Dutch. He is currently — thanks to the support of the Dutch Foundation for Literature — a writer-in-residence in Amsterdam, where he is working on a novel for adults.

(US, 1980) is an American Muslim with Pakistani forebears. He writes plays, essays, sketches and works as a solicitor, blogger and journalist. He acquired fame with the first comprehensive play about American Muslims after 9/11, the exceptionally funny tragicomedy The Domestic Crusaders, which premiered in 2005 and was published as a book in 2010. His essays appear in The Guardian and The Huffington Post, among others. Wajahat Ali was proclaimed influential 'Muslim American Artist’ and in 2008 and 2010 was invited to the annual White House Ramadan dinner. He is seen as ‘Muslim leader of the future’ owing to his journalistic work and took part in the ‘Muslim Leaders of Tomorrow’ conference in Qatar. He also researches Islamophobia in the US and was the first author of Fear Inc, the Roots of the Islamophobia Network in America, published by the Center for American Progress.

(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.

(Surinam, 1962) is the National Coordinator against Discrimination and Racism since 2021. Baldewsingh was alderman in The Hague for 12 years, from 2006 to 2018. Prior to that, he was a documentary editor and, from 1998, a Hague city councillor. As alderman, he held various policy areas in his portfolio, including social affairs and employment, neighbourhood approach, sports, city management and environmental policy, public health, integration, personnel and organisation and civic affairs. Besides his work as NCDR, he participates as a dual PhD student in the programme of Leiden University Dual PhD Centre The Hague. His dissertation will be on Sarnámi as a language in oppression.