(Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia, 1968) is a Malaysian writer, poet, actor, photographer and filmmaker. She graduated with a B.Ed in English Literature and TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language) from the University of Winnipeg, Canada, and has worked extensively in the arts for over 20 years. Of Chinese and Punjabi parentage, her work stems from the desire to tell stories, and she has worked with marginalised communities from sex workers and refugees to indigenous peoples, in mediums that incorporate film, photography and prose. She has published two collections of poetry, going there and coming back (1997), The Book of Sins (2008), a collection of short stories, Lost in KL (2008) and a critically-acclaimed memoir Growing Up With Ghosts (2011), an exploration of grief, personal and political history, and bloodlines. She works in both Bahasa Malaysia and English, and her work has been exhibited, screened, published locally and internationally. She is also the founder of Readings and CeritAku, two live literary platforms in Kuala Lumpur, now in its eighth year. She lives in Kuala Lumpur with her two daughters and she keeps a blog of her work at bernicechauly.wordpress.com.

(1968) is a journalist, working for Volkskrant, Nieuwe Revu and HP/De Tijd. She received a great deal of media attention for her interviews with Alicia, one of the two half-sisters of queen Beatrix. In 2010 her book Slappe Zakken! (Drooping Pricks!)appeared about her quest for a man who was willing to father her children. Her conclusion was that men only want sex and don't want to bear any responsibility for a family. Meanwhile Theunissen is a proud single parent.

(Lebanon, 1970) is a poet, journalist, translator, editor and consultant. In her work she focuses on eroticism and the liberation of Arab women from their paternalistic yoke. Hoe ik Sheherazade heb vermoord, bekentenissen van een boze Arabische vrouw (How I killed Scheherazade, confessions of an angry Arab woman) in 2010 attracted a great deal of international attention. In this autobiographical essay she stood up for the sexual liberation of Arab women - at the same time condemning western clichés. Haddad speaks seven languages and has translated various works of prose and poetry into and from Arabic. As head of the cultural pages of the Lebanese daily An Nahar she interviewed well-known writers such as Umberto Eco, Wole Soyinka and Paul Auster. By the end of 2008 she launched Jasad (Arabic for body), the first Arab erotic cultural magazine. The flamboyant writer now works on a Ph.D. at the Sorbonne on the translation of the Marquis de Sade in Arabic. A selection of her poetry can be read in English translation on www.joumanahaddad.com. Her work has been translated into many languages, including French, German, Spanish, Polish, English and Italian, and she has won numerous international literary prizes.

(Roermond, NL, 1965) studied Arabic and Middle East studies. Her second book was published in 2012: Het andere Arabische geluid (The Other Arab Voice), about voices of humanity and hope during the hectic transition period in the new Middle East. Her first book Dromen van een Arabische lente (Dreaming of an Arab Spring, 2008) was about the life and work of a human-rights diplomat in the Arab world. In both books she goes in search of the kind of stories that get little attention in Western media. Currently, Stienen is a publicist and independent consutant. She writes for NRC Handelsblad and De Volkskrant newspapers, has a column in the women's monthly magazine Opzij, and reguarly appears as a commentator on radio and television programmes and in debates at home and abroad.

(Netherlands, 1952) became well-known with her novels Geen gewoon Indisch meisje (No Ordinary Indonesian Girl, 1983) and Vaders van betekenis (Fathers of Significance, 1989), as well as the documentary Het land van mijn ouders (The Land of My Parents, 1983), in which the principal characters seek out their roots. Bloem is the daughter of Indonesian parents who, after Indonesian independence, migrated to the Netherlands. In 1993 she received the E. du Perron Award. Besides writing a large number of novels, short-story and poetry collections, and non-fiction,YA - a.o. Matabia (1981) about an Indonesian girl, published in Japanese and German, and many times awarded -  and children's books, she made film and TV productions such as the feature film Ver van familie (Far from Family, 2008) and the YA film De tovenaarsleerling (The Sorcerer's Apprentice, 1986) that won her a Cinekid Award. Her novel Een meisje van honderd (Girl of a Hundred Years, 2012) is a family story offering a brilliant overview of a century of Indonesian-Dutch history. Recent works include Haar goede hand (Her Good Hand, 2016) on her relationship with her mother, Een teken van leven (A Sign of Life, 2018) about mourning, and Indo (2020) on Indonesian history and Indonesian perceptions of identity. Her novel Meisjes uit het dorp (Village Girls) will be published January 2023. Bloem, who is also a clinical psychologist and visual artist besides being an author, received the 2022 Constantijn Huygens Prize for her entire oeuvre.