(England, 1969) is an English writer with five books to his name. His breakthrough in the Netherlands came with the novel The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet (2010). The book is situated in the 19th century and set in Japan, where Mitchell lived for eight years. The novel relates the adventures of some early 19th century East Indiamen. The main character is Jacob de Zoet, a humble clerk struggling with love. Mitchell was inspired by the diaries of the Dutch East Indiaman Hendrik Doeff, who ended up at the small island of Deshima, where he lived for a great number of years. What is striking is the descriptions of the Netherlands of the time, which make it hard to imagine that the book was written by a Briton. Earlier Mitchell wrote among others Cloud Atlas, Black Swan Green and Ghostwritten. These books were much acclaimed, not only in the Netherlands but worldwide.

(Nijmegen, NL, 1960) writes essays, short stories and plays, and is a columnist with the daily newspaper NRC Handelsblad. He published the novels Laatste woorden (Last words) and Suez and received the Henriëtte Roland Holst Prize in 2005. In 2011's Moeten wij van elkaar houden, het populisme ontleed (Do We Have to Love One Another? Populism Dissected) Heijne shows how globalisation and individualism pave the way for populism. Angst en schoonheid (Fear and Beauty) was published in 2013, an essay about Dutch writer Louis Couperus, whom Heijne admires. In the same year his documentary about Couperus was broadcast. In 2015 he hosted the five-part documentary De volmaakte mens (The Perfect Human). In 2016 his essay Onbehagen – nieuw licht op de beschaafde mens (Discontent - new light on civilized man) was published. In 2017 Heijne received the P.C. Hooft Award for his essayistic works.