(Arnhem, NL 1953) had his international breakthrough with The Dinner, a novel that spent weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, has been published in 37 countries, and has been adapted for stage and screen. The dark story of boys from a good family who murder a drifter mainly addresses the question of how responsible parents are for the misdeeds of their children. Adolescent behaviour was also the theme of Koch's debut novel, Red ons, Maria Montanelli (Save Us, Maria Montanelli, 1989). In Zomerhuis met zwembad (Summer Cottage with Pool, 2011), he again showed how easily successful people can fall from grace. His characters inevitably say or do unexpected things, which is also the case in his short-story collection Korte geschiedenis van het bedrog (A Short History of Deception, 2013). In his latest novel, Geachte heer M. (Dear Mr. M.), he takes aim at Dutch writers. Koch is also a columnist and an actor, as well as the creator of Jiskefet, an absurdist public-television series.

(Belgium, 1964) is a highly successful writer of children's books, while also writing essays and novels for adults. She has won many literary prizes and her work has been translated into eighteen languages. After her studies she left for the US where she wrote her first book, which was translated into six languages. Her novel Vallen (1994) was adapted for the screen and translated into eleven languages. In this children's book a mother doesn't mention her father's 'bad' war past to her son. The son however falls under the spell of a neo-Nazi and granddad's history seems to repeat itself. Provoost's novel De Arkvaarders (2001), based on the biblical story of Noah, has been translated into many languages. On the occasion of this book she debated online with among others Toni Morrison and Orhan Pamuk on PEN World Voices in New York, organised by Salman Rushdie, on 'religion and reason'. In 2014 her new novel will be published on the Huguenots who landed at the Cape of Good Hope in the 17th century.

(Doetinchem, NL, 1958) is a highly versatile writer who constantly changes up his work. Sometimes his tone is serious, as in Schaduwkind (Shadow Child, 2003), about the death of his young daughter. This bestseller was translated into more than fifteen languages. In 2009's  J. Kessels, The Novel he channels an altogether different voice. A semi-parody of the hard-boiled crime novel, it features one of Thomése’s favourite recurring characters, J. Kessels, living it up a he smokes cigarettes and devours deep-fried meatballs. The book was made into a film in 2015, starring Frank Lammers and Fedja van Huêt. De onderwaterzwemmer (The Underwater Swimmer, 2015) about the life Tin, who as a child loses his father on a dark night in wartime, shows that only man himself can alter his destiny. In 1991 Thomése won the AKO Literature Prize for Zuidland (Southland), and in 2012, the Bob den Uyl Prize for Grillroom Jeruzalem.

(Amsterdam, NL 1981) studied history at the Free University in Amsterdam. She worked as as researcher with the International Information Centre for the Women's Movement, charting Moroccan-Dutch women's history. On that subject she did her Master's: The migration of Moroccan women to the Netherlands, 1967-1980. For the celebration of the fortieth anniversary of the treaty enabling the mass migration of Moroccans to the Netherlands she wrote the book Marokkanen in Nederland, pioniers vertellen, (Moroccans in the Netherlands, Pioneers Tell Their Stories) with Annemarie Cottaar en Fatiha Laouikili. In 2012 her Ph.D. thesis appeared: Het Land van Herkomst, Perspectieven op verbondenheid met Marokko, 1960-2010 (The Country of Origin, Perspectives on Alliance with Morocco, 1960-2010), a tryptich shedding light on Dutch and Moroccan government policy and the influence of Moroccan organisations as well as telling the stories of the migrants themselves. Her membership of an advisory organ of King Mohammed VI led to some controversy. Bouras was a guest in tv shows such as the popular late night talkshow Pauw & Witteman, Een Vandaag en the Dutch Muslim Channel.