(Netherlands, 1965) started her career in youth journalism and became the Middle East correspondent for Dutch NOS News from 2006 to 2011, reporting on 22 countries from her base in Amman, Jordan. Through her work she developed great admiration for the people in the areas she covered, above all praising their helpfulness and hospitality. “When you ask for directions, whole groups walk along with you, and people are truly relieved when you reach your destination.” Since her return to the Netherlands, Le Fever has worked for the NOS newsdesk.

(Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia, 1968) is a Malaysian writer, poet, actor, photographer and filmmaker. She graduated with a B.Ed in English Literature and TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language) from the University of Winnipeg, Canada, and has worked extensively in the arts for over 20 years. Of Chinese and Punjabi parentage, her work stems from the desire to tell stories, and she has worked with marginalised communities from sex workers and refugees to indigenous peoples, in mediums that incorporate film, photography and prose. She has published two collections of poetry, going there and coming back (1997), The Book of Sins (2008), a collection of short stories, Lost in KL (2008) and a critically-acclaimed memoir Growing Up With Ghosts (2011), an exploration of grief, personal and political history, and bloodlines. She works in both Bahasa Malaysia and English, and her work has been exhibited, screened, published locally and internationally. She is also the founder of Readings and CeritAku, two live literary platforms in Kuala Lumpur, now in its eighth year. She lives in Kuala Lumpur with her two daughters and she keeps a blog of her work at bernicechauly.wordpress.com.

(Brazil, 1950) can be regarded as a Brazilian Adriaan van Dis. Coming from a poor family he left for Rio de Janeiro at age fourteen to study. He made a living out of doing translations from English and Spanish language books. He ended up in journalism and for years was a correspondent in New York. He was the first Brazilian journalist to make it to the scene of the 9/11 catastrophe. He also made a series of reports in Iraq. Since 2002 he has interviewed great writers like Mario Vargas Llosa, Nadine Gordimer en Orhan Pamuk for Globonews. Silvestre had written three non fiction books before making his debut in 2009 with the novel Se eu fechar os olhos agora (When I close my eyes), which won the prestigious Jabuti Prize for best novel, as well as the São Paulo Literary Award for Best Novel of the year. The novel appears in Dutch early 2012. In 2011 his second novel was published, A felicidade e fácil (Happiness is easy). Its launch was a happening in which writers, actresses and other fans were queueing in order to get hold of an autographed copy. In both novels Silvestre draws from his own experiences as a journalist. Recent Brazilian history plays an important role, sex and violence being recurring themes.