(Tetouan, Morocco, 1974) studied philosophy at the University of Amsterdam. In 1994, he made his debut with the poetry collection Mijn vormen (My Forms). It was followed by Mijn gedichten (My Poems) (1998), Varkensroze ansichten (Pig pink postcards) (2003), awarded the Jan Campert Prize, among others, and Tempel (2013), for which he received the Awater Poetry Prize. He was Amsterdam's City Poet for a year, has performed at numerous festivals at home and abroad, and collections with selections of his work were published in both Swedish and English translations. Waar is het lam (Where is the Lamb?, 2022), his fifth collection of poems, is a probing investigation into the meaning of sacrifice; an intriguing collection of poems in which the personal and political, dream and reality, fear and desire continually interact. The collection is competing for the Grote Poëzieprijs, the leading Dutch award for poetry, the winner of which will be announced on 17 May 2023.

(Portugal, 1972) was singing jazz and Portuguese music when she became captivated by fado singer Amália Rodrigues at age 18. Since then she has become a major performer and innovator of this Portuguese folk tradition. With her voice, she is able to make even the melancholic fado sound cheerful. In 1996 she debuted as a fado singer in the Netherlands, the same year her first CD, Cristina Branco, was released here. She increased her Dutch fan base with the CD O Descobridor (2002), on which she sings translated poems by Dutch poet Slauerhoff. Later, she recorded the song Herinnering aan later (Memories of Later) with the Dutch group Bløf, and sang a version of their song Dansen aan zee (Dancing by the Sea). Branco also interpreted texts by Portuguese poets such as Camões, Pessoa, David Mourão-Ferreira, and José Afonso, as well as works by Paul Éluard, Léo Ferré, and Alfonsina Storni (among others). For the 2015 festival edition, Cristina Branco and pianist João Paulo have set the celebrated Dutch writer Remco Campert's Ode aan mijn jas (Ode to My Coat) to music.

(Amersfoort, NL, 1981) is a lawyer and poet. Her debut volume Papieren veulens (Paper Foals, 2013) was hailed by the Dutch and Flemish press. Both Opzij and Vogue magazines tipped Van Eijken as one of today's promising young writers. According to the newspaper Het Parool, the collection is one of the best books of 2013: "It's poetry that readers can access as much with their heads as with their hearts. Every poem shows how Van Eijken enjoys playing with language. Especially notable are wonderful phrases like 'come lie next to me/today the grass whispers/beautiful things into my cheek.'" Papieren veulens was nominated for the 2014 C. Buddingh Prize for best Dutch poetry debut. Besides being a poet, Van Eijken is also a lecturer and researcher in the Department of European Law (Europe Institute). In 2014 she obtained her doctorate in European citizenship and the constitutionalisation of the EU. For years she was also a project coordinator and programmer with the Utrecht literary organisation Het Poëziecircus.

(Harderwijk, NL, 1946) debuted in 1982 as a poet with Tussen gebaren en woorden (Between Gestures and Words). After that, she published another dozen volumes of poetry. Major themes in her work are transience and the loss of a child. Through the voices of mythical figures, or by allowing a garden, river, or dune to speak, she combines permanence and transience and gives meaning to the human struggle with fear and shame. Her latest volume Archaïsche dieren (Archaic Animals) wonderfully links reflection with everyday worries and needs; it is nominated for the 2015 VSB Poetry Prize. Her work has won awards including the Herman Gorter Prize, the Anna Blaman Prize, and the A. Roland Holst medal. From 2008 to 2010 she was president of the Dutch branch of PEN. Her poems have been translated into English, French, German, Spanish, Turkish, and Hebrew. Knibbe has been published in literary journals such as Raster, De Gids, and Maatstaf, and has participated in various poetry festivals at home and abroad.

(Belgium, 1962) is an award-winning novelist, poet, and playwright. Since 2006 he has worked with NTGent as a theatre director. Verhelst debuted in 1987 with the poetry collection Obsidiaan (Obsidian). His first novel Vloeibaar harnas (Liquid Armour) followed in 1993. His breakthrough came with Tongkat in 1999. Verhelst frequently refers to other writings, (visual) art, and reality. He is often considered an aesthete because of his poetic language. Zwerm: geschiedenis van de wereld (Swarm: The history of the world, 2005) marked a turning point. In it, he referred to current issues and replaced exuberant metaphor with sober expression. His poetry volume Wij totale vlam (Us Total Blaze, 2014) was awarded the Ida Gerhardt Poetry Prize. In this collection, people return from the moon, or they see birds dive into a lake and write words on the underside of the water's surface. His novel Voor het vergeten (Before forgetting, 2018), written after his mother's sudden death, he witnesses his father's mourning, tries to find his way with stories and memories, and opens new worlds featuring deer, works of art, cats and Japanese gardens. His poetry collections Zon (Sun, 2019) and 2050 (2021), seem to take a new turn towards broader landscapes, visions of the future, and social positioning. He was awarded the 2021 Constantijn Huygens Prize for his oevre. The novella Lichamen (Bodies), a "passionate declaration of love for language", comes out in January 2022.

(Leidschendam, 1973) is a poet, translator and lecturer at the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa. He made his debut in 2000 with the poetry collection Zijn opkomst in de voorstad (His Rise in the Suburb). Over the years, his poetry collections were often awarded or nominated for several important prizes, and translations appeared in English, Afrikaans, French, Chinese, Indonesian, Swedish and other languages. For the collection Kooi he received the Jan Campert Prize and the Ida Gerhardt Poetry Prize in 2008. His work is sometimes humorous, sometimes matter-of-fact and at the same time full of absurd inventions. In 2014, he published his, again critically acclaimed collection Mens Dier Ding. In 2021, he published the personal collection Wie was ik?, for which he received the Herman De Coninck Prize. That same year, Alfred Schaffer was awarded the P.C. Hooft Prize, the largest annual oeuvre prize in Dutch literature.

(The Netherlands, 1993) is a theatre choir from the city of Haarlem made up of about 50 men and women. They are a relaxed group, clearly as comfortable singing on the stage as on the street. Artistic director Harry Habets makes original choices from existing music and the choir interprets his compositions or arrangements -- sometimes even the work of choir members. This dynamic group brings theatrical elements to its performances, so that there's always more to experience than just the music. During Writers Unlimited International Literature Festival The Hague 2024, Blue Moon will perform part of their performance Het leven is vurrukkulluk, based on texts from Campert's novel of the same name, in the hall of the Koninklijke Schouwburg before the start of Ode aan Remco Campert.

(The Netherlands, 1984) is a writer. In 2006 she debuted with Binnen spelen (Playing Inside), in which her namesake character Alma has sexual encounters with famous people such as former Dutch prime minister Balkenende and Bert from Sesame Street. Alles is Carmen (Everything is Carmen) followed in 2011, about a girl who has no purpose in life until she falls in love. In 2014 her biographically-tinged novel De grote goede dingen (Big Good Things) was published, about the daughter of an anarchist musician who travels to Israel to find out who her late father was. Her novel Vergeet de meisjes (Forget the Girls) was published in 2017; in her autobiographical Bewaar de zomer (Keep the Summer, 2020, longlisted for the Libris Literature Prize) she candidly writes about loss, growing up, language and love. Her new novel will be published in spring 2024.