(Turkey, 1946) has been called 'the spokesperson of our phantasies, the freest spirit of our prose' by none other than Orhan Pamuk. In his penetrating work Vassaf deals with varying themes like migrant labour, historiography, the falsification of history and the failure of capitalism. Vassaf, a writer in addition to being an internationally respected psychologist, mixes stories with essay-like passages and philosophy with literature. Vassaf is a leading figure in the public debate in Turkey. He has had a weekly column in de newspaper Radikal since 1997. These columns were put together in a book in 2008, entitled Turkey, where are you?. Hell Be Praised (1992), on the result of totalitarianism in daily life was a best-seller in Turkey and published in English. In 2008 the book was translated into Russian. We Still Need to Be Heard (1983) was re-issued in 2003 and translated into French and German. It is pioneering work with keen observations of Turkish workers' children in Western Europa. His latest book, from 2013 is titled Mostari: A Bridge Keeper’s Diary, around his stay in Mostar, and the bridge that was demolished in the war, and was recently rebuilt. As Vassaf indicates "It is a novel, an epic poem, the love story of a passerby who becomes enamoured by the bridge."

(Azerbaijan, 1958) is known in Azerbaijan as a writer and a translator of English literature in Azeri, a language closely related to Turkish. Since 1997 Nazirli has written several novels and short stories. Society is a Mirror of Politics (1999) was awarded the prestigious Azerbaijan Hassan Zardabi Prize, named after the founder of the first newspaper in Azeri, appearing in 1875. One of Nazirli's short stories to have been translated into English is The Old Baby, about an Azerbaijani refugee family trying to survive. Kamran Nazirli has translated works by English and American writers into Azeri, among them novels and poems by Edgar Allan Poe, Lord Byron and Oscar Wilde.

(Turkey, 1972) was born in the south eastern Kurdish region of Batman. He gained a lot of praise with a two-part anthology of Kurdish poetry which appeared in 2007 and cost him years to complete. Temo not only selected the poems but translated them in Turkish as well. In addition to being a translator Temo is a poet and a novelist. Since 1995 he has published three books of poetry, winning him the Yasar Nabi Nayir prize in 1997. The three collections of poems, Ah! Tamara (1995), Ugultar (2000) and Kirgin Nehirler Meseli (1997) appeared in 2008 in a new edition. His 1998 novel Çiftlere Cinayet Dersleri (literally: Lessons in Killing for Couples) was awarded a prize. Temo made his debut in 1994 with a play and studied ethnology at the University of Ankara.

(Ankara, 1959) sings and plays traditional Turkish music, but likes to make outings to jazz and improvised music. In Turkey Üvez played for years with various dancing groups and orchestras, like the Ankara State Ensemble, before coming to the Netherland in 1989. He plays traditional Turkish string instruments like the baglama (or saz), cura, tar, cümbüs and ud, in addition to various percussion instruments. Üvez is not only a great expert in Turkish music, but also in other mediterranean rhythms like Balkan music. He plays in various ensembles and together with clarinettist Steven Kamperman founded the ensemble Barana & Co, mixing Turkish sounds with jazz, world music and improvisation. Üvez is a teacher of music in Groningen and Hoogezand and gives music workshops on a regular basis.

(Brummen, NL, 1959 - Amsterdam, 2016) was a poet, journalist, and media presenter. At a young age he debuted as a poet in the Dutch literary magazine Hollands Maandblad. Since then he has published books of poetry quite regularly, such as Neem me mee zei de hond (Take Me With You Said the Dog, 2010). After the publication of his first collection Inslag (Impact, 1985), he began working as an interviewer for the VPRO broadcasting company. Later he became head producer of the Radio 6 programme "De Avonden." Since 2005  he talked to writers on VPRO's book programme "Boeken" on both TV and radio. He put together Briefgeheimen (Postcard Secrets, 2007), a colourful compilation of postcards linked to a website where people can divulge their deepest secrets. Overkomst dringend gewenst (Return Voyage Urgently Requested), his anthology of the work of poet Jan Emmens, was published in 2012, and his most recent poetry collection, 's Middags zwem ik in de Noordzee (In the Afternoons I Swim in the North Sea) in 2014. Brands was one of the "Lonely Departure" poets who compose and present a final poetic tribute to people who pass away without friends or family.

(Belgium, 1972) is a writer, transdisciplinary artist and a film and theatre maker. She debuted with De Kleenex Kronieken (The Kleenex Chronicles, 2014), a family and village chronicle featuring Priscilla, the daughter of a Flemish father and a Senegalese mother. She published the children's book Sala & Monk in 2020. In Echo - essays, speeches en brieven (Echo - essays, speeches and letters, 2021), named after the poem Echoes by Audre Lorde, she places her finger on a sore spot. Not only is the white gaze still dominant in our society, Black women are doubly disadvantaged: they aren't white and they aren't men. Beks shows how systematic is not to be seen or heard. Her essay De kleine Morrison: een wegwijzer in het lezen van haar werk vanuit Zwart perspectief (The Little Morrison: A Signpost to Reading Her Work from a Black Perspective, 2023) offers readers of Toni Morrison, the most famous female black writer and Nobel Prize for Literature winner who died in 2019, insight into her life and work. Beks shows that in everything she does, Morrison invites self-critical reflection on language, structure, power, gender, race, law and injustice, blackness, the white gaze and the meaning of oral and written narratives.