David Szolláth

David Szolláth, Ph. D. (1975) is a research fellow at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Research Center for the Humanities in Budapest. He is a managing editor of Literatura, the theoretical journal of the Institute of Literary Studies, HAS, and author of "A kommunista aszketizmus esztétikája" [Aesthetics of Communist Ascetism] (2011). He was an editor at the literary review Kalligram (2006-2008) and Jelenkor (2008-2018).

Andriy Kurkov

Andriy Kurkov is a writer, journalist and screenwriter. He is the author of 13 novels and 5 children books. More than 20 feature films and documentaries have been based on his scripts. He is the president of PEN Ukraine.

Nathalie Rouanet-Herlt

Nathalie Rouanet-Herlt, born 1966 in France, lives and works in Vienna since 1990 as an author and translator. She performs as a Poetry Slammer under the name Ann Air. She studied German language and literature at the University of Toulouse and obtained her doctorate at the University of Vienna.

Endre Szkárosi

Endre Szkárosi (b. 1952, Budapest) is a writer, poet and performance artist. As full professor he teaches literature at the University ELTE (Budapest), heading there also a literary doctoral programme. He has been a frequently encountered writer and performer on both the Hungarian and the international art scene as well as a scholar interested in the history and the theoretical background of 20th century experimental poetry and intermedia art. He was and has been editor of important reviews (Mozgó Világ, Új Hölgyfutár, Magyar Műhely/Atelier Hongrois) and editor of a number of anthologies.

Wojciech Nowicki 

Wojciech Nowicki (1968) is a writer, essayist and translator. In addition to his interest in literature, he is also a culinary critic for the Kraków edition of the daily newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza and the co-founder of the foundation Imago Mundi, whose goal is to promote photography. He currently lives in Kraków.

Alessia Rastelli

Alessia Rastelli (Civitanova Marche, Macerata - 1982) is a journalist for the "Corriere della Sera", where she is part of the editorial team of the Culture section and of the cultural supplement "la Lettura" (The Reading). She graduated from the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa after studying Modern and Contemporary Literature. She is the co-author of the web series "The noise of memory. Vera’s journey from the Shoah to desaparecidos", directed by Marco Bechis and turned into a movie.

Toby Lichtig

Toby Lichtig is the Fiction and Politics Editor of the Times' Literary Supplement (TLS). He writes for a range of publications, including the TLS, Wall Street Journal, Telegraph, FT, Jewish Chronicle and New Humanist, and has appeared as a guest critic on various television and radio programmes. He also freelances as a documentary producer. He was chair of judges of last year's JQ/Wingate Prize.

Carolina Schutti

Carolina Schutti is a writer. She was awarded the EUPL 2015 for Austria. Her books have been translated into eleven languages. Her most recently published works include: Eulen fliegen lautlos (Novelle, 2015) and Nervenfieber (Poems, 2018). She lives in Innsbruck.

Barbara Hoepli

Barbara Hoepli (Milan 1971) is a publisher and bookseller. She is chairman of the Board of Hoepli S.p.A - Casa Editrice Libraria (Publishers and Booksellers) in Milan, Italy. She is also a member of the board and of the executive committee of the Swiss Chamber, Milan, Italy; and member of the scientific committee of the Scuola per librai Umberto e Elisabetta Mauri.