Petrit Ymeri is the executive director of the Dituria publishing house, founded in May 1991. For several years, he was a literature teacher in high school and later a lecturer in foreign literature at the University of Tirana. Until 1991, he was a cultural journalist for the Albanian Radiotelevision and later the head of the editorial sector of the 8 November publishing house. From 2003 to 2014, Petrit Ymeri was a member of the Board of Directors of the Albanian Radiotelevision.
Jasmin B. Frelih (1986) is an author and translator from Slovenia. His first novel In/Half won the EUPL in 2016 and was since translated into ten languages. His short story collection Tiny Ideologies was published in 2015 and his essay collection Pale Freedom (2018) won the Marjan Rožanc award for best book of essays. His next novel is forthcoming this year from Beletrina publishing house. He lives in Škofja Loka with his partner and their dog.
Aki Järvinen is sales manager at the Academic Bookstore Helsinki.
Svetlozar Zhelev is a well known contemporary expert in the Bulgarian literary field. Former publisher, TV and radio host, he was a board member of the Bulgarian Book Association from 2006 to 2010, and president of the jury for the "Translations" program of the National Culture Fund from 2018 to 2020. He is a member of the programing committee of the "TRADUKI" network, board member of ENLIT, co-founder and board member of the "Elizabeth Kostova Foundation on Creative Writing", and a lecturer in Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski" since 2013.
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).
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.
In 2001, Shakeh established Artbridge, the first bookstore café and restaurant in Yerevan, Armenia. During the past 20 years, she managed to change the culture of bookselling in the country, by promoting Armenian books, exporting them to libraries and customers around the world, and participating in international book fairs with the same vision of promoting Armenian issues and literature. She has initiated the project “Exhibition and Sales” for rural area in Armenia with collaboration with publishers to promote new publications.
Born in 1967 in Helmstedt/Niedersachsen, Klaus Kowalke is a Philosopher, Historian and Bookseller. He was awarded “Best Bookshop in Germany 2018” by the Federal Government Comissioner for Culture and the Media (Federal Government).
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.
Isabel Lucas is a journalist and literary critic. She started to do journalism on television and has since passed through the editorial staff of some of the main Portuguese newspapers and magazines. Freelance since 2012, she writes regularly for Público newspaper, collaborates with Ler and has collaborated with several national and international publications. Among many of his work in various journalistic areas, he has featured in articles and interviews with some of the most celebrated American authors.
