(Ethiopia, 1978) is one of the most promising African-American writers of the moment. In his novels he scetches the problems of identity of African emigrants in the US. Mengestu, who fled his native Ethiopia with his parents in order to start a new life in the US, personally experiences how to have to go through life with an exotic name. His stories are populated with African emigrants trying to find their way in American society. Mengestu’s first novel, The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears (2007), deals with an Ethiopian shopkeeper in a Washington slum who develops a close relationship with a white history teacher and her biracial daughter. His second book, How to Read the Air (2010), depicts a young man going in search of his African parents' roots. Mengestu also writes non-fiction for magazine like Rolling Stone, Harper’s and Granta. He was a Granta correspondent working from Congo, Uganda and Darfur. Mengestu has won various prizes, the Guardian First Book Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, among others. He lives in Paris with his wife and his child.

(Turkey, 1968) is of Kurdish descent. In 2011 Dağın Ardına Bakmak (Looking Behind the Mountain) appeared, for which she took to the mountains to interview PKK rebels, the first time a writer sketched the personal stories and traumas of the Kurdish fighters. In 2011 Doğunun Kapısı: Diyarbakır (The Gate of the East: Diyarbakir) also appeared, a portrait of the 3000 year old capital of Kurdistan. As a columnist for the English language newspaper Zaman Matur writes regularly about the Kurdish question. In addition she chairs the Diyarbakır Cultural Art Foundation. She also leads social projects for women, children and adolescents and makes a tv-programme on culture, art and politics. She read law at the University of Ankara. Since the publication of her first book of poetry in 1996, Rüzgâr Dolu Konaklar (Wind-Filled Countryhouses) she has created her own mythology - inspired by age-old Sufi traditions from the region of her birth. Meanwhile she has six books of poetry to her name and an anthology with poems she translated. Her work has been translated in seventeen languages.

(1976, Nijmegen) is a journalist and presenter. She has worked for television and radio programmes of NTR, VPRO, the Dutch World Service and Radio West. In addition to her work in broadcasting Nicole hosts and leads varying meetings: from debates and congresses to literary festivals and other cultural events. She completed three studies: Journalism at the Hogeschool van Utrecht, Religion and the Philosophy of Life at the Free University in Amsterdam and a Master's Degree in Journalism in a Crossmedial News Surroundings at the Media Academie.