(Curaçao, 1983) won all major poetry awards in The Netherlands and Belgium for her 2018 poetry debut Habitus. This startling, existentialist collection deals with Curaçao, feeling at home, and her role as a (black) woman, immigrant and outsider. She studied Writing for Performance at the Utrecht School of the Arts. Fabias' work is characterized by variety, both in terms of content and style. De Groene Amsterdammer magazine commented in 2018: "Fabias dares to utilize every nook and cranny of poetry as an art form; some poems are short and lyrical, others narrative and long, sometimes they are clear and accessible and then hermetic and experimental." Habitus has been published in France, Italy, Germany, Argentina and the USA. Fabias also translated poetry collections by British poet Warsan Shire and Nobel Prize winner Louise Glück into Dutch.

(The Netherlands, 1987) debuted in 2013 with Vluchtautogedichten (Getaway Car Poems), which won the C. Buddingh' Prize. The jury praised his "boasting, swagger, and bravado." Van der Graaff escapes everyday reality in his very own getaway car — namely poetry — looking for new dimensions. His second volume Dood werk (Dead Work, 2015) won the J.C. Bloem Prize. He publishes poetry and prose in various magazines, performs regularly, and is editor and co-founder of the online literary magazine Samplekanon. His first novel Wormen en engelen (Worms and Angels, 2017) is a contemporary quest for the meaning of faith. In 2020 he published the poetry collection Nederland in stukken (The Netherlands in Pieces), followed by his second novel Onder asfalt (Under Asphalt, 2022). He curates compelling poetry recitation programmes each year for Writers Unlimited.

Go to website Maarten van der Graaff

(Soest, NL, 1986) is a poet in imagery and language, which are subjects she also studied at the Gerrit Rietvelt Academy, graduating in 2009. In 2011 she completed her Master in design at the Sandberg Institute. She calls herself "a writing detective, because that's what I (once) want(ed) to become. Each subject demands its own form, that's why I must be flexible. One day I am a filming poet, then a subjective journalist, beekeeper, and tomorrow probably something else." Her first volume of poetry, Als je een meisje bent (When You Are a Girl) was published in 2015. In 2017 her second volume appeared, Hoe ik een bos begon in mijn badkamer (How I Started a Forest in my Bathroom). It won her the Dutch Foundation for Literature debutante scholarship. Smits teaches at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy and at ArtEZ. On the side, she is a hobbyist beekeeper in Amsterdam-Noord.

is a poet who published the collection Godface (2019), in which the world and identity are definitively unstable and various voices speak through one other: 'ik lig op de bank / terwijl ik mee moet doen met de revolutie’, and: ‘dit was de laatste keer dat ik op mijn werkmail inlogde / ik ben niet meer het monster dat ik was.’ ("I'm lying on the couch / while I have to join the revolution," and: "this was the last time I logged into my work email / I'm no longer the monster I was."). Her poems, essays and short stories have also appeared in such publications as nY, Het Liegend Konijn, Tirade, Poëziekrant, Terras, Revisor, De Groene, DW B, Cimedart, Extra Extra, De Gids and online at SampleKanon, MisterMotley, DIG, Minutes of the Invisible, Optimist, and Ooteotee. She makes poetry films with artist Johan van Dijke. Her writing residency at the Jan van Eyck Academy led to curating programmes for Perdu. Besides writing, she works as a pediatrician.

(1973) is a "hyper-aware poet" (Piet Gerbrandy, Volkskrant). Her 2004 debut zoekt vaas (looks for vase) was nominated for the C. Buddingh Prize. According to the jury, she writes "enigmatic poems from which words and sometimes even entire phrases seem to have disappeared. [...] A stubborn language that one doesn't often hear and that does not leave one in peace." Her second collection, resistent (resistant, 2006) was followed by De Deugende Cirkel, gedichten en knipsels voor kinderen (The Virtuous Circle: poems and cut-outs for children, 2010). She also creates video installations in collaboration with visual artist Ine Lamers. In 2019, her poetry collection Het jaagpad op en af (Up and down the towpath) will be published.

(1971) is a writer, poet, painter and curator. He studied at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy and the Sandberg Institute and has written several novels and poetry collections, such as A.U.T.O.B.I.O.G.R.A.F.I.E. (2003), De aquaholist (The Aquaholist, 2005), Hosselen (Hustling, 2009) en Regen (Rain, 2015). Briljante man (Brilliant Man) was published in 2018. This novel is a "text collage" that jumps through time and space in a mix of prose, poetry and reflections about art, literature, politics, philosophy and cultural differences between the Netherlands and Suriname.

(Rotterdam, NL 1978) debuted as a spoken-word artist in 2015. She won the 2017 poetry category of the El Hizjra Literature Prize with the poem "Oorlog 'n Held" ("War 'n Hero") and the 2017 TEDX open mic Podium during the Being Connected event. She has appeared at events including SWOON, PaginaGroots, Spoken World and Lowlands. Gomes writes and speaks about religion, love, her background, nature, faith and humanism. She is also a songwriter and lecturer in word art. In the latter capacity she leads spoken-word workshops in secondary schools.

(1991) is a poet, essayist and visual artist. She studied at the Willem De Kooning Academy and received her Master from ArtEZ Academy for Visual Arts in Arnhem. Woudstra is an editor and coordinator at Perdu. Her visual and literary work has been published in Samplekanon, nY, Poetry International and The Bendigo Art Gallery. She writes from a feminist perspective and poses questions about the relationship between sexism anad language.

(1993) researches mysticism and modern identities at the University of Antwerp. He published poetry, short stories and essays in magazines Het Liegend Konijn, Tirade, Deus Ex Machina, DW B, Streven, Awater en Mvslim.com. His debut collection Anagrammen van een blote keizer (Anagrams of a nude emperor) was nominated in 2017 for the C. Buddingh' Award. He is a poetry editor of literary magazine Kluger Hans.