(Amsterdam, NL, 1963) studied Dutch language and literature in Amsterdam. He writes reviews, interviews, columns and obituaries, and heads the books section of De Volkskrant newspaper. In 2011 he published Eindelijk Sneeuw (Snow at Last: twelve wintry stories about artists, writers, and books, from Willem Witsen's cityscapes to the tears of Mrs. Dickens). Exerpts from his reviews and interviews were published in the books Langzaam lopen is al verdacht (Walking Slowly is Suspicious, 1999), De ongeneeslijke lezer – een werkboek (The Incurable Reader: a workbook, 2002), Het woord is aan de schrijver (The Writer Has the Floor, 2005), and De Broodschrijver (The Hack, 2006), about Bart Chabot's biography of Herman Brood. In 2012 he published Kreten uit een urn (Cries from an Urn), a lecture on the role of the critic in our time. His text "Naar boven mit Brakman" ("Up With Brakman") accompanied the 2015 unveiling of the Brakman monument in Enschede.

(Poland, 1968) is a writer, journalist and professor of philosophy. A student of cultural studies and philosophy, she earned her doctorate with a thesis on feminism, postmodernism and psychoanalysis that was published as a book in 2011. Bator taught in Japan, which became the basis of her breakthrough novel Japoński wachlarz (Japanese Fan). In 2013 she won the top Polish literary award, the Nike, with Ciemno, prawie noc (Dark, almost Night). This novel is about a young woman who returns to her hometown of Wałbrzych (also Bator's hometown). An investigative journalist, she wants to look into the mysterious disappearance of three children. The village's inhabitants behave strangely, and sinister events force her to confront dark aspects of her own past: her parents' death and her sister's suicide. Bator employs a mixture of styles, from Gothic horror to chatroom lingo. During the festival, her work will be the subject of the Polish translation contest.