(Suriname, 1951) is an elocutionist, singer, poet and actress. She moved to the Netherlands in 1968 when she was seventeen, only to begin writing poetry when she was forty-four. She frequently performs her poetry in front of an audience. On 15 november 2008 the show Nobody Like Gilda, Bang, Bang had its premiere. It is a poetic and musical story about her own journey through life with various musical influences, on Surinamese sounds and jazz to classical music. The passing of time and the insights it brings is one of the themes in her work, like in Adem (Breath): ‘At a slow pace, dissecting setbacks reflectively, there where wisdom and candour flow together, truth will enter, ripples of life will speak’.

(Curaçao, 1944) is poet, actor, elocutionist, director and painter. His poems stand out because of their imaginative and ornate use of Papiamento. Philip (a.k.a Fifi) Rademaker published poetry and wrote several essays and short stories. In 2000 he published Bos di Buriku (Donkey Bray), with thirty-seven poems, again published in 2008 in a special edition for secondary schools in Curaçao. In 2006 he and Sinaya R. Wolfert made the photobook Otrabanda, a Timeless Poem of Curaçao, about a neighbourhood in Willemstad.

(Suriname, 1926) has been called the 'poet of the encounter' as he brings together cultures and people in his work. Born Martinus Haridat Lutchman, the teacher at a young age acquainted himself with his Indian roots. He was one of the first poets to write in Sarnami, the mother tongue of the Hindustani in Suriname and the Netherlands. He published some poets in Hindi too, but the larger part of his work is in Dutch. His first poems appeared in 1952 under the pen-name Fernando, but later he adopted the Hindi name for 'citizen of Suriname': Shrinivási. The poet in his work sings the praise of the multicultural population, the climate and nature of his native country. Since his debut Pratiksha (1968) Shrinivási has published various books of poetry and short stories, which stand out for their quality and musical and metaphorical language use. He collaborated in assembling various anthologies of Surinamese literature, including Diversity is power (2007). In 1984 Geert Koefoed collected a major anthology of Shrinavasi's work: Een weinig van het andere (A little of the other). In 2007 he moved back to Curaçao, where he died in 2019.

(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.

(Bussum, 1971) is a radio and television producer with Radio Nederland Wereldomroep (the Dutch World Service). She studied Spanish language and literature and specialised in Caribbean literature. Fraai grew up in a multicultural family. Her father is Antillian and her mother was born in the Dutch East Indies.