(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.

(Geldrop, NL, 1979) debuted in 2010 with De eerste hond in de ruimte (The First Dog in Space), tales of young people on all-night techno and drug binges that broaches themes of loneliness, addition and relationships. These collected stories had previously appeared in the Flemish literary magazine DW B. His second book Het licht (The Light, 2012), which made the Golden Book-Owl prize longlist, again focused on a group of friends who listen to music, experiment with drugs and sex, and endlessly keep up with social media until their lives are disrupted by a series of suicides. His 2014 poetry debut, Niemand had er enig idee van wat er aan de hand was (No One Had Any Idea What Was Going On), was nominated for the C. Buddingh Prize. Van Rooij's poems tend to conjure an uneasy, tense atmosphere via out-of-context quotes, showing a world that repeatedly defies our plans and expectations.