(Marken, 1958-2009) was a poet, a writer and a commentator, with a regular column on the Forum page and the book pages of the Volkskrant. Zeeman was the editor of the arts section of the Volkskrant and from 2006-2007 its Rome correspondent. In 2006 he and the writer Abdelkader Benali published an exchange of letters, exchanging ideas on politics, life, love and literature. In 2002 Zeeman received the Gouden Ganzenveer (Golden Goose Quill) for his merits for Dutch literature. Zeeman became well-known in the 1990s as the host of his monthly book programme 'Late at night after a short walk', later to be renamed 'Zeeman with books'. In 1991 he published his first volume of poetry, Beeldenstorm (Iconoclasm), winning him the C. Buddingh Prize. His second volume Verhoudingen (Relationships) appeared in 1995. In the same year he published short stories entitled De Verduistering (The Darkening). He died in 2009.

(196) was born in England and since 1983 lives in Australia, where he works as a writer and journalist. he writes for amongst others the Sydney Morning Herald and Rolling Stone. Gilling lives on Tasmanaia, the former British penal colony. Although his presence their is not a punishment, he must, as an Englishman, have asked himself what the life of a prisoner was like then. His first novel Het andere kind (The other child) (2000), is proof of this reflection. Although the novel is fictitious, the writer puts himself in the shoes of different colonists. Het andere kind was internationally received with much enthusiasm and became a New York Times Notable Book. In 2003 his second novel De vlucht van Miles en Isabel (The escape of Miles and Isabel) appeared.

Leominster MA, United States, 1964) is an American journalist who is critical of the social structure of her country. Her work is mostly focussed on young impoverished adults. She has written articles about juvenile law, women in prisons and abandoned children. These articles have been published amongst others in the Village Voice, Esquire and the New York Times Sunday Magazine. Adrian Nicole LeBlanc has followed and observed daily life in the Bronx for more than ten years. This fieldwork resulted in 2003 in a docu-novel Random Family . This book, which will be published in the Netherlands, tells the story of two girls and their past loves. The two girls endure violence, pregnancies, homelessness and imprisonment. In 1985 they are still teenagers and the world lies ahead of them. Ten years later they have their own teenage daughters, who will almost inevitably follow the same road.
WIN 2004