(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.

(Hulshorst, NL, 1951) received the Anne Vondeling Award for political journalism in 2008, owing to her sharp analyses of social problems. She is a journalist in the widest sense of the word. Besides being an editor and columnist with the NRC Handelsblad newspaper, she makes frequent appearances on radio and TV. In 2007 she debuted as a novelist with Maak jezelf maar klaar (Go Get Yourself Off), in which one of the characters from Harry Mulisch's The Discovery of Heaven figures as a main character. Etty obtained her Ph.D. with distinction from Utrecht University with a biography of Henriëtte Roland Holst, Liefde is heel het leven niet (Love Is Not All of Life, 1996). Her newspaper columns appeared in four different books. Her reviews were compiled in Dames gaan voor - Van Hella Haasse to Connie Palmen (Ladies First: From Hella Haasse to Connie Palmen, 1999). Etty is a special lecturer in Literary Criticism at the Free University in Amsterdam, and is now at work on a biography of the late Dutch poet and songwriter Willem Wilmink.