(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.

(1977) is an Islam specialist and a columnist with Trouw newspaper and Volzin magazine. She was raised by a Dutch mother and an Islamic, half-Indonesian father. Her father's uncle was Inayat Khan, the founder of Western Sufism. After her studies Youskine moved to Syria to experience "real Islam" and learned that women are not as oppressed there as the West likes to think. She was discredited in 2012 after stating in her Trouw column that she would "love to punch in the nose" anyone who might insult the Prophet Mohammed. At first Youskine aimed to improve the world via her pen, but has lost that illusion. She criticizes the debate about Islam in the Netherlands: "There is no more knowledge. If this continues, the Netherlands will become intellectually and spiritually vacant." Yet she remains committed to increasing knowledge about Islam in the Netherlands through her writing.

(Tetouan, Morocco, 1974) studied philosophy at the University of Amsterdam. In 1994, he made his debut with the poetry collection Mijn vormen (My Forms). It was followed by Mijn gedichten (My Poems) (1998), Varkensroze ansichten (Pig pink postcards) (2003), awarded the Jan Campert Prize, among others, and Tempel (2013), for which he received the Awater Poetry Prize. He was Amsterdam's City Poet for a year, has performed at numerous festivals at home and abroad, and collections with selections of his work were published in both Swedish and English translations. Waar is het lam (Where is the Lamb?, 2022), his fifth collection of poems, is a probing investigation into the meaning of sacrifice; an intriguing collection of poems in which the personal and political, dream and reality, fear and desire continually interact. The collection is competing for the Grote Poëzieprijs, the leading Dutch award for poetry, the winner of which will be announced on 17 May 2023.