(The Netherlands, 1987) debuted in 2013 with Vluchtautogedichten (Getaway Car Poems), which won the C. Buddingh' Prize. The jury praised his "boasting, swagger, and bravado." Van der Graaff escapes everyday reality in his very own getaway car — namely poetry — looking for new dimensions. His second volume Dood werk (Dead Work, 2015) won the J.C. Bloem Prize. He publishes poetry and prose in various magazines, performs regularly, and is editor and co-founder of the online literary magazine Samplekanon. His first novel Wormen en engelen (Worms and Angels, 2017) is a contemporary quest for the meaning of faith. In 2020 he published the poetry collection Nederland in stukken (The Netherlands in Pieces), followed by his second novel Onder asfalt (Under Asphalt, 2022). He curates compelling poetry recitation programmes each year for Writers Unlimited.

Go to website Maarten van der Graaff

(South Africa, 1981) is one of today's most important South African authors. She writes in Cape-Afrikaans, a spoken language containing English words and slang. Her work has been translated into Dutch, French, Greek, Italian and English. Her first poetry collection Noudat Slapende Honde (Now Then Sleeping Dogs, 2008) paints a sharp picture of poverty. Santekraam (2012) contains stories in verse about a fishing village that must make way for a military site. Mammie (2017) is a loving as well as raw ode to her mother. Chinatown (2021) is typically hard-hitting. Kamfer's poems, as controlled as they are intimate and darkly humourous, tackle violence, the position of women, love and parenthood. Her first novel, Kompoun, was published in 2021. She compiled Die maan is swart (The Moon is Black, 2022), a collection of poetry by Adam Small, and has translated two of Kirsty Applebaum's Princess Minna children's books into Afrikaans.

(The Netherlands, 1991) is a writer of prose and poetry. She has written columns and essays for various newspapers and magazines and is an editor at the literary magazine De Revisor. In 2016, she graduated from the Creative Writing program at ArtEZ with a collection of poems and letters titled Hoe de eerste vonken zichtbaar waren (How the first sparks became visible). In 2018, the collection was awarded the Poëziedebuutprijs Aan Zee. Her debut novel Confrontaties (Confrontations) was highly praised and won the Hebban Debut Prize, the Anton Wachter Prize, and the Best Book for Young Adults Award. In 2022, Simone wrote the novella Zo hoog de zon stond for the Brabants Book Present. In 2024, her second poetry collection Marshmallow was awarded with the Jan Campert-prijs.

(The Netherlands, 1955) is a poet. She started out as an actress but wanted to write, which resulted in the theatrical dialogue Strikken. She debuted in 1997 with the poetry volume Rib. In the meantime, she has published thirteen collections, including Zusterstad 2.0 (Sister City 2.0, 2018) en Tulpenwodka (Tulip Vodka, 2021). She flouts existing poetic conventions in her work, omitting punctuation, leaving words unfinished and switching between idioms. When it comes to her unorthodox approach, Lampe relates most closely to visual artists. She received the Ida Gerhardt Poetry Prize for her anthology Spuit je ralkleur (2005). Lampe regularly performs and supervises students of the Image and Language Department of the Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam. She wins the P.C. Hooft Prize for poetry in 2024; the jury states she is 'one of the most idiosyncratic and generous poets of our time.'

(1990) made her debut with the poetry collection Indolente (de Arbeiderspers, 2023), in which she searches for a language that makes our shared past tangible - along the way, an unexpected historian presents himself: the oyster. Her work has also appeared in the literary magazines DW B, nY, Poëziekrant and SAND Journal, among others, and as audio work online on DIG and with the VPRO. She wrote articles and interviews for Dutch monthly Moesson for ten years, was an editor at Perdu and is a board member of the Auteursbond (Authors' Union). She recites her poems on various stages in the Netherlands and Belgium.

(China, 1980) is a poet. In 2001 she moved to Dongguan, one of southern China's major industrial centres, hoping for a better life. There, she worked in several factories and started writing poems about the experience. Through her penetrating work, Zheng grew into an icon: she has published about ten poetry collections, is one of China's most renowned poets, wins many prizes, and has been translated into many languages. With their strong contrasts, personifications and broken phrases, Zheng's poems show industrialization turns humans into part of the machinery. She counters this dehumanization with human uncertainty, fragmentation, dislocation and vulnerability. Her poetry collections published in English include Huangma Mountains, Collected Poems of Zheng Xiaoqiong, Pedestrian Bridge, and Poems Falling on Machines.