(1954, Iran) is the pen name of Hossein Sadjadi Ghaemmaghami Farahani. Since his debut De Adelaars (The Eagles) in 1993 he has navigated between two worlds, the Netherlands and the country of his birth. Abdolah grew up in a harsh, Islamic region. Since he was twelve he read western literature and caught the scent of freedom. While studying physics in Teheran, he joined a secret leftwing party. In 1980 he published two collections of short stories clandestinely under the name Kader Abdolah. In 1988 he fled Iran and ended up in the Netherlands where he has since published a large body of works consisting of novels, short story collections and collected columns, published under the pen name Mirza in de Volkskrant. In Papegaai vloog over de IJssel (Parrot flew over the IJssel, 2014) four migrant families build a new existence in typically Dutch villages along the river; in Salam Europa (2016) the Shah of Persia travels through Europe late in the 19th century, accompanied by a large following of bickering courtiers.

(South Africa, 1954) debuted with a juvenile novel (Matoli), using a farm setting as a microcosm of South Africa’s racial tensions in 1978. His first international breakthrough was the novel Ancestral Voices, which was published in ten languages. It won all the major literary awards in South Africa, and established Van Heerden as the leading novelist of his generation. He went on to publish the novels Casspirs and Camparis, Leap Year and Kikuyu, followed with his major novel The Long Silence of Mario Salviati. Van Heerden also wrote and staged satirical cabarets in the Dutch and German tradition, which was a very effective method of protest during the difficult eighties. Van Heerden teaches at the University of Cape Town, where he is Professor in the School of Languages and Literatures, and chairs the Afrikaans and Dutch Studies Section. He regularly reads his fiction at events such as the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland, the Winter Nights Festival in The Netherlands, the Time of the Writer Festival in Germany, the Zimbabwe Book Fair and other festivals and events internationally. For his most recent novel, 30 Nagte in Amsterdam, in 2010 he received the Hertzog Award, the most important literary award for Afrikaans literature.

(Nijmegen, 1957). De vogelspin (The bird spider) is his first novel. In April 2000 the thriller Dossier Jeugdbende (File: Juvenile Gangs) was published, the first part of a series District Noord. Part two, Dossier Gifmoord (File: Poison Murder) was published a year later. He studied Dutch language and literature, Philosophy and Comparative Literature and works as a freelance literary journalist, writer and translator (Amin Maalouf, John Updike, among authors). He worked for Boekblad and writes for Ook dat nog (KRO Dutch television). Under the pseudonym Steven Klamm he writes horror stories for children.

(Aruba, 1955) studied political science and law at the University of Amsterdam. In 1980 his poem E Dia di Mañan appeared, followed by many publications such as the poetry collection Politico (1990), Illucion Optico (1995) and the poem Ser Nihilo (1998). His collection of poems Destino appeared in 2000. In 2001 his first short story, Un Pasco Tristo, was published. Another poetry collection, Gerede Twijfels (Certain Doubts), appeared in 2002. In 2003 his novel Sentencia sin Proceso appeared. Nicolaas - who sees himself first and foremost as an Aruban writer - is chairman of the board of the Antillean and Aruban literary organisation Simia Literario. Since April 2001 he has been attached as a reviewer to the weekly publication Contrast. He mostly comments on novels and poetry collections written by mainly non-indigenous writers.