is a spoken-word artist, musician, singer-songwriter and poet who grew up between her mother's grand piano and her father's contrabass. She prefers to express herself musically and goes jamming and freestyling through life. She is characterized by her rhythmic, jazzy guitar playing combined with beatbox and a soulful voice. She uses her loop station to create atmospheric compositions that take you to an unknown world and her improvisation capacity is surprising. Sources of inspiration are Bobby Mcferrin and Erykah Badu. She has performed at events such as the Liberation Festival, Worden Worden Zinnen and Noorderzon. She has played solo at Simplon and Grand Theatre in Groningen, Paard van Troje in The Hague and at the Tolhuistuin and De Parade in Amsterdam.

(Liberia, 1973) is a novelist, essayist, journalist and film critic. His debut novel Land of the Fathers (1999) is partly based on his grandmother's stories and deals with the clash between slaves returning from the US and other Liberians. The novel The Black Napoleon (2015) portrays Samori Touré, who founded the Wasulu-empire in western Africa in the 19th century. His journalism, including film reviews, appears in publications such as The New York Times, Trouw and One World. Together with  Ebissé Rouw he compiled Zwart (Black, 2018), a collection of stories by Afro-European authors from the Low Countries. Ongekende liefde (Unprecedented Love), in which he tells his life story to his ten-year-old daughter Bendu, was published in 2021. Sherif's historical novel The Emperor’s Son (2023) follows Zaiwulo, a young prodigy who trains under sage Talata of the Haidarah family in Musadu. Entangled in the intrigues of Emperor Samori, the 'Black Napoleon,' Zaiwulo matures into a formidable soldier.

(Netherlands, 1988) is known for his poetic skills, verses, stories, metaphors and spoken word. He writes "wrap-ups" on demand, writing live at events to bring them to a close in rhyme. Otte has published two collections of poetry: Regelgeving (Regulations, 2015) and TOFLOF (2017). He teaches spoken word at the Rotterdam art school (which he himself left prematurely), was the 2017-18 poet laureate of Rotterdam, and founded the Rorschach publishing house for young and controversial talent. His work is characterized by a combination of accessibility and layering. Major themes are love that doesn't quite work out and the ins and outs of the big city. Incisiveness, openness and humor alternate at high tempo.

(Suriname, 1962) published his first volume of poetry, Bapauti/Erfenis (Bapauti/Heritage) in 2008, an elaboration of the songs on his album Kantráki/Contract Labourer. The collection Tihá/Troost (Tihá/Comfort) followed in 2011 with lyrics from his pop album Daayra. The singer, poet and composer -- with parental roots in India, born in Suriname, and living in The Netherlands -- deals with societal themes and with subjects that are taboo within Hindustani and Indian circles. Mohan writes in Sarnámi, the mother tongue of the Hindustani in Suriname and the Netherlands. He is founder and artistic director of musical groups like the Raj Mohan Ensemble, Vistar and Shai'rana, with which he tours at home and abroad. He plays and sings compositions based on his own lyrics and on poems by contemporary Urdu poets in the (lightly) classical tradition of Northern India.

is a writer, artistic collaborator and curator. They are the author of Against Ageism. A Queer Manifesto (2023); Take ‘Em Down. Scattered Monuments and Queer Forgetting (2021) and Playing Monogamy (2019) as well as several books in Dutch: Herdenken herdacht (2019); Enz. Het Wildersproces (2018); the novel De vrouw die (2016); the collection of columns Ik deug / deug niet ( 2015) and Het monogame drama (2015). . Van Saarloos works as an independent curator of public programming and artistic collaborations. A current PhD candidate in Rhetoric at the University of California, Berkeley, they are interested in Black feminist engagements with quantum physics and focused on the rhetorical (im)possibility of existence without defense. Van Saarloos is currently writing a new book for AK Press, titled Trans Despair: Staying Unrelated and Insecure.

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Instagram: @svansaarloos

(Netherlands, 1984), graduated from the Gerrit Rietveld Academie, is a transdisciplinary artist. She works from her studio in Ruigoord as a poet, performer, actress and visual artist. She has played two leading roles in Eddy Terstall's feature films. For which she received the 'Best Actress Award' at the Woodstock film festival of 2015. She made her debut as a poet with the Vruchtwatervuurlinie. This collection has been awarded the Cees Buddingh Prize 2019. The Jury wrote: "A poet who looks at the world through a hole in a newspaper, who connects the world of soldier's games in her youth with an American student who, during a ride to the Taco Bell, tells how he will pay for his education by killing Afghans. We watch a peeping, lurking poet, who, according to her, is created by staring, and who not only sharpens her own gaze, but also ours."

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.

(The Netherlands, 1970) is a presenter, producer, actor and voice-over artist specializing in music, literature, arts and culture. After graduating as actor from the Toneelschool Amsterdam he was a member, among others, of the ensemble of the Nationale Toneel. He was a presenter at Amsterdam-based broadcaster AT5 and a radio producer with the KRO on national network NPO Radio 1. He narrates audio books, and was shortlisted for the Storytel Award 2019 for Best Audio Book with his reading of Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer's novel Grand Hotel Europa. Until last year, he presented on radio station Sublime the daily morning show Sublime Sunrise, the Instagram poetry programme Sublime Smooth and evening show The Sublime Experience. In 2025 he wrote and hosted the tv-series Kringlopen met Francis on regional Dutch broadcaster NH. Broekhuijsen works for Writers Unlimited as festival curator and presenter.

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Instagram: @francisbroekhuijsen