Nuruddin Farah (Somalia, 1945) is regarded by many as the most important African candidate for the Nobel Prize for literature. Although he left Somalia in 1970, his native country occupies center stage in all his books. Except for the lengthy dictatorship and bloody civil war which destroyed the country, he writes about women’s rights, the relationship between Islam and pre-Islamic traditions. The core of his oeuvre is formed by his novel trilogies: ‘Variations on the theme of an African Dictatorship’, consisting of Sweet and Sour Milk (1979), Sardines (1981) and Close Sesame (1982); and ‘Blood in the Sun’, formed by Maps (86), Gifts (1990) and Secrets (1998). Right now he is working on the final part of his third trilogy, already consisting of Links (2007) and Knots (2008). In his recent work exiles return to a warstricken Mogadishu. Farah also wrote a non-fiction book with testimonies of Somali refugees: Yesterday, Tomorrow: Voices from the Somali Diaspora (2000). In 1998 he was recipient of the Neustadt International Prize for Literature. His work has been translated in seventeen languages and seven of his books have appeared in Dutch, among others Secrets and Maps. The translation of Links will appear in 2009. Farah lives in Cape Town, South Africa.

(Bulgaria, 1965). German author. In his novel The Collector of Worlds tells about the sojourns of the British adventurer Richard Burton. But more than about Burton this novel is about the way in which others see Europe. It is the leitmotiv in Trojanow's work: he wants to show the West how the rest of the world feels and thinks. Like Burton Trojanow saw a lot of the world. In 1971 he fled to Germany with his family and moved to Nairobi. Back in Germany, he studied law and international law, interrupting his study to found two publishing houses specialised in African literature. Then he followed in the footsteps of the hero of his youth, Burton, and journeyed through India and the Middle East. He made his debut in 1996 with the novel The World is Big and Salvation Lurks Everywhere, adapted for film in 2007. Meanwhile he has written fifteen titles (fiction and non-fiction), three of which have been translated into Dutch.

(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.