"I have spent nearly all my life in the world of books. 27 years ago I bought a little bookshop at Frederiksberg in Copenhagen. Before that I was a sales representative for different Danish publishing houses for 20 years. In my early youth, I spent nearly a year working for Blackwell Scientific Publications in Oxford."
Aleksandar Bečanović, born in 1971, is a Montenegrin writer, film critic and screenwriter. He is the author of five poetry books, Ulysses’ Distance (1994), Being (1996), The Pantry (1998), Places in the Letter (2001) and Preludes and Fugues (2007); two short story collections, I am Waiting, What Will Happen Next (2005) and Obsession (2009); and three novels, Arcueil (2015), Disorder (2017) and Vlatka (2018). He has also published two books of film criticism, Genre in the Contemporary Cinema (2005) and the 900-page long Lexicon of Film Directors (2015).
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.
Anne Merethe K. Prinos (53) is secretary general in Norwegian Critics' Association. She holds a master in literature from the University of Oslo and has been working as a freelance literary critic in the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten for almost 20 years.
Angelo Mitchievici is a professor, author, literary critic and essayist.
Kristian Bang Foss (born 1977) is a Danish writer. His debut novel Fiskens vindue (The Window of the Fish, 2004) was acclaimed by critics. This was followed by Stormen i 99 (The Storm in 99, 2008). He won the EU Prize for Literature for his novel Døden kører Audi (Death drives an Audi, 2012). His latest novel is called Frank vender hjem (Frank comes home, 2019).
