(Amsterdam, NL, 1963) studied Dutch language and literature in Amsterdam. He writes reviews, interviews, columns and obituaries, and heads the books section of De Volkskrant newspaper. In 2011 he published Eindelijk Sneeuw (Snow at Last: twelve wintry stories about artists, writers, and books, from Willem Witsen's cityscapes to the tears of Mrs. Dickens). Exerpts from his reviews and interviews were published in the books Langzaam lopen is al verdacht (Walking Slowly is Suspicious, 1999), De ongeneeslijke lezer – een werkboek (The Incurable Reader: a workbook, 2002), Het woord is aan de schrijver (The Writer Has the Floor, 2005), and De Broodschrijver (The Hack, 2006), about Bart Chabot's biography of Herman Brood. In 2012 he published Kreten uit een urn (Cries from an Urn), a lecture on the role of the critic in our time. His text "Naar boven mit Brakman" ("Up With Brakman") accompanied the 2015 unveiling of the Brakman monument in Enschede.

(Portugal, 1972) was singing jazz and Portuguese music when she became captivated by fado singer Amália Rodrigues at age 18. Since then she has become a major performer and innovator of this Portuguese folk tradition. With her voice, she is able to make even the melancholic fado sound cheerful. In 1996 she debuted as a fado singer in the Netherlands, the same year her first CD, Cristina Branco, was released here. She increased her Dutch fan base with the CD O Descobridor (2002), on which she sings translated poems by Dutch poet Slauerhoff. Later, she recorded the song Herinnering aan later (Memories of Later) with the Dutch group Bløf, and sang a version of their song Dansen aan zee (Dancing by the Sea). Branco also interpreted texts by Portuguese poets such as Camões, Pessoa, David Mourão-Ferreira, and José Afonso, as well as works by Paul Éluard, Léo Ferré, and Alfonsina Storni (among others). For the 2015 festival edition, Cristina Branco and pianist João Paulo have set the celebrated Dutch writer Remco Campert's Ode aan mijn jas (Ode to My Coat) to music.