(Indonesia, 1971) had her debut novel Amba published in 2012 in Indonesia. It has already been published in English, German and Dutch. The novel is a modern take on the story of Amba and Bhisma in the Mahabharata, set against the context of one of the 20th century's bloodiest Communist purges and the Buru penal colony in the Moluccas. In November 2014, Pamuntjak released her second novel, Aruna dan Lidahnya. By mid December, it had become a national bestseller and is now already in its 2nd edition. Pamuntjak, one of the few Indonesian writers to publish in English, made her breakthrough internationally in 2005 with her first volume of poetry, Ellipsis, proclaimed by the Herald UK as one of the best books of the year. Her latest volume, The Anagram, appeared in 2007. In addition to poetry Pamuntjak writes short stories. Recurring themes in her often sensual work are identity and tolerance, food as metaphor for culture, complex love relationships and the relationship between mother and daughter. Pamuntjak has also published articles on art, literature, classical music, politics, film and food in the weekly Tempo and The Jakarta Post, among others. Early 2008 she launched the gastronomical guide Jakarta Good Food Guide 2008-2009, which was well-received.

(Sri Lanka, 1956) writes fiction and non-fiction for children and adults and is a well-liked journalist and columnist in Asia. In his best known book, the whodunit The Feng Shui Detective (2000, translated in 2005) he plays with the dialects of English in Asia. Also, he ridicules western bias about Asians and vice versa. Vittachi tries to improve the literary climate in Asia. He was the initiator of the Asia Literary Review and various literary festivals and prizes. Right now he is on the jury of the first great Asian literary prize, the Australia Asia Literary Award. Vittachi gives online writing lessons, visits schools and informs his audience daily through www.jam100.com. As a baby he had to flee his native country owing to death threats addressed at his father, who had written a book on the struggle between the Singalese majority and the Tamils. He grew up in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Londen and now lives in Hong Kong.

(Hengelo, NL 1962) is a radio journalist and a writer. His most recently published book is De Wadden (The Frisian islands; 2013), a poetic history of the Frisian islands. His book of short stories Brutus heeft honger (Brutus is hungry, 2011) was nominated for the AKO Literature Prize. Eating being the leitmotiv, Deen jumps through world history. The forty-four historical stories are fine miniatures of scarcely one and a half page long. After having studied Dutch in Groningen Deen worked for Radio Noord for some years. His radio columns from those days were collected in two publications. Since 2001 Deen has been programme maker with VPRO radio, hosting the historical radio programme OVT. A number of historical documentaries which he made for VPRO radio has been published as an audiobook. The radio series De lange weg naar Darwin (Long road to Darwin) appeared on cd and as a podcast. Deen was programme coordinator of the Winternachten Festival between 2009 and 2011.