(Hoorn, 1968) is a journalist who started his career at local radio station Amsterdam FM; after that he became editor of De Digitale Stad, hosted AT5's newshow and talkshows. Then he returned to making radio: first at BNR Nieuwsradio and afterwards at VPRO's programme De Avonden which he presented every Monday and Friday. Since 2015 Van Kan is radio news show host at national public broadcaster NOS; he also can be heard as voice over during TV news shows. Spring 2016, he hosted literary TV programme Boeken. Next to this, Van Kan is active as editor of literary magazines. Until 2007 he was part of the editorial board of De Tweede Ronde. Afterwards he moved to literary magazine Tirade. Together with Wim Brands he is co-editor of Nederland. Een objectief zelfportret in 51 voorwerpen (The Netherlands. An objective autoportrait in 51 objects), a collection of texts about typically Dutch objects by the same number of writers.

(1959) is a journalist, director and scriptwriter. Right now IJzermans is editor-in-chief of the VPRO radio programme De Avonden (The Evenings). Music lovers have known her for twenty years as programme maker and host with VPRO radio. In programmes like De Wilde Wereld, Villa 65 and Nozems à gogo she shared her love for alternative pop music both enthusiastically and smartly with listeners. She also made various documentaries, depicting the daily life of among others singer Nick Cave soberly yet beautifully. She wrote several scripts, such as Zoet brood (Sweet bread) for tv. For the series Het Geluk Van Nederland (Dutch happiness) she made various episodes on education and child-abuse. Her 2005 script for the tv film Burgers/Reizigers (Citizens/Travellers) was awarded the Geneva Europa prize.

(New York, 1970) made an instant name for himself internationally in 2006 with his debut, the novel In the Country of Men, nominated for the Man Booker Prize and the Guardian First Book Award. It is a gripping story about a boy who at an early age gets into contact with the cruel and fearful life in the Libya of Gadaffi. The debut novel was translated into 26 languages and won six international literary awards including the Commonwealth Writers' Prize. Matar draws from personal experience. The son of a Libyan diplomat, Matar lived in the US for three years before returning to Tripoli. In 1979 the Gaddafi regime accused his father of subversive activities and the family had to leave Libya. The family lived in exile in Cairo for a number of years, where Matar finished his secondary school. He then left for London to study architecture. In 1990 his father was abducted in Cairo and disappeared without a trace. Essays by Matar have appeared in among others The Independent, The Guardian, The Times and The New York Times. A new novel by Matar, Anatomy of a Disappearance will be published in March 2011 in the UK.

(The Netherlands, 1975) is a writer of novels, poems, stories, essays, and screenplays. His work is characterized by the compelling way in which he brings characters involved in historical injustices to life. His debut novel Armin (2008) is about children adrift after World War II. In Ik was Amerika (I Was America, 2010), a Dutch prisoner of war in World War II befriends a farm worker in a camp in the US. Decades later, he seeks him out again. Peek received the BNG Literature Prize and the F. Bordewijk Prize for this work. Godin, held (Goddess, Hero, 2014) is a candid novel about the mysterious and all-too-human nature of love. In his pamphlet Verzet! Pleidooi voor communisme (Resistance! A Plea for Communism, 2015), he undermines decades of capitalist indoctrination. His novel A.D. (2021) tells about the events and hardships aboard one of the first seaships in the 16th century to present-day Indonesia and the arrival there. In 2025, his poetry collection Orang/oetan was published.

(1977, New York) made her debut in 2010 with The Possessed, a book about her favourite Russian writers, including Tolstoy, Pushkin, Dostoyevsky and Chekhov. In pursuit of literary truth, Batuman repeats Pushkin’s wanderings in the Caucasus, and travels to Tolstoy’s ancestral estate to investigate whether the great man might in fact have been murdered. The search leads to digressions on a wide range of subjects, from literary mores and translations to questions of love, songs by The Smiths, and the making of the film King Kong. By following the footsteps of her literary heroes, Batuman succeeds in bringing them to life and giving them a place in today’s world. Batuman,born in New York of Turkish parents, received a doctorate in comparative literature from Stanford University. She frequently writes for the New Yorker. Her essays are striking because of their fresh, comical, yet solid style. Her first book appeared in Dutch translation in 2010. She is the recipient of a Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers’ Award (2007) and a Whiting Writers’ Award (2010).

makes easy-going yet penetrating folk pop music. This cheerful quintet blends Balkan, Arabic, Latin and Dutch brass band influences into a very catchy whole. Front woman Amarins Romkema is a young Frisian singer and guitarist, who has performed albums by Lucky Fonz III. Amarins’ lack of inhibition reminds one of Fay Lovsky. The quintet comprises ukelele, violin, accordion, guitar and double bass.The numerous gigs at home and abroad have given the band a mature sound without their music losing any of its spontaneity.