(1966, Syria) is a script writer and a novelist. His latest novel, In Praise of Hatred (2006), which appeared in Lebanon, is banned in Syria. It is about a black page in Syrian history: the unprecedented aggresssive retaliation by the Syrian government against islamists in Homs and Hama, in the 1980s. Reuters and Human Right Watch have taken action in the meantime. Khalifa is working on his fourth novel, A Parallel Life. His first, The Guard of Deception (1993) appeared in 2000 as the The Gypsy Notebooks, banned in Syria for four years. Khalifa works with the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the US Department of State. In 2007 he received a medal from the Ismaiiliyah International Festival for Documentaries and in 2005 a prize for the best script at het Valencia Film Festival.

(The Hague, 1956) grew up in Brussels. In 1983 he worked as an EU correspondent with Reuters' in Brussels. From 2000 to 2006 he was editor-in-chief of Reuters' in London, heading an international editorial staff of reporters, photographers and tv producers. In this period he was among other things responsible for Reuters' reporting of the worldwide effects of 9/11, such as the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and for the founding of Reuters' News and Data Centre in Bangalore, India. In his career he has travelled widely in Asia, the Arab world and other areas where Reuters’ reporters are met with censorship on a daily basis. Right now he chairs the Reuters' Foundation.

(Neerpelt, 1953), a Flemish prose writer, studied psychology in Leuven, Belgium, and journalism in the Netherlands. Her novel Een kamer in Cairo (A Room in Cairo) tells us about her stay in Cairo, and her awareness that she'll never be part of that strange world. In 1985 she made her first journey to the former Belgian colony the Congo. In Terug naar Kongo (Back to the Congo) (1987) she reflects upon her experiences and impressions there. Later she focused on the Middle East and wrote the book De poorten van Damascus (The Gates of Damascus) (1993). In her book Dans van de luipaard (Dance of the Leopard) (2001) she tells about her second stay in the Congo in 1997, a time of unrest and civil war. In her newest book Op de vleugels van de draak (On The Wings of The Dragon), Joris journeys between Africa and China. Lieve Joris is a committed observer and knows like no other how to portray a post-colonial Africa. Her work has been awarded repeatedly, both in Flanders and in France.