Dr. Brigitte Schwens-Harrant, born 1967 in Wels, is head of the feature section of the weekly newspaper "Die Furche" in Vienna. She has written numerous publications on Austrian and international contemporary literature. She received Austrian State Prize for Literary Criticism in 2015.
Armen Ohanyan (b.1979; pen name Armen of Armenia) is a fiction writer, essayist and literary translator. He holds a BA in philosophy from Yerevan State University and the graduate certificate in Translation (CTRA) from American University of Armenia. He’s the author of the story collection [The Return of Kikos], and the trilogy of novels [Mommyland], where for the first time in Armenian literature LGBT people are presented under a positive light. He’s the president of Armenian PEN Center (since 2017), board member of TIAC and Human Rights House Yerevan.
Lena is a German fiction writer and narrative designer for computer games. She's also the national chairperson of the Association of German Authors (Verband deutscher Schriftstellerinnen und Schriftsteller (VS in ver.di)) and co-founder of Phantastik-Autoren-Netzwerk (PAN) e.V. She was a member of the PAN board for 4 years and in this capacity, she co-founded the Netzwerk Autorenrechte (Network Author’s Rights) in 2016 with, among others, Nina George and Eva Leipprand. The Network joins nine (now 13) authors' associations for political purposes.
Leanne Ellul lectures in Maltese language and literature at the Ġ.F Abela Junior College as part of the University of Malta. She writes both poetry and prose. In the past she has written for theatre and still writes both textbooks and readers for children. Ellul has also translated a number of works to Maltese. She is part of a number of entities that have the Maltese language and culture at heart, namely Inizjamed and HELA.
Bernadetta Darska (1978) is a literary critic and assistant professor at the Faculty of Journalism and Social Communication of the University of Warmia and Mazury. She also lectures at Master Writers’ School of Collegium Civitas in Warsaw. Between 2002 and 2009, she was the editor-in-chief of “Portret”, a literary and cultural magazine. She has written nine books.
José Manuel Bernardes Pereira Lello (1958) has worked as an administrator at Livraria Lello since 1983. He is also part of the Lello Editores publishing house, both of which are recognised institutions in Portugal and beyond. José Manuel also served as the President of the Portuguese Association of Publishers and Booksellers (APEL) between 1995 and 1998, and was a member of the board of Portugal for the country’s representation as guest of honour at Frankfurt Book fair in 1997.
Helena Landberg has 20 years of experience in selling books. Since 2018, she has been running a small independent bookstore in the old town of Stockholm. Her speciality is to arrange very popular events where authors and their audience come together. Helena is married and the happy owner of Garbo, a charming 8 months old dachshund who works part time in her bookstore.Literature has always been a central part of Helena's life, and she looks forward to her EUPL jury assignment.
Gjoko Zdraveski (1985) graduated at Blaže Koneski Faculty of Philology in Skopje and holds an MA from the same faculty. He worked as a Macedonian language lecturer at the Faculty of Philosophy in Nish for eight years. From 2014-2018, he organized Astal Projections literary evenings together with Ana Golejshka, every first Tuesday in the month at Menada café. Since 2015, he has been part of the Versopolis project.
Marianne Payot is a literary critic for the French newspaper L'Express.
Born in Famagusta, Cyprus, on 21st August 1947. Studied Business Administration at West London College, London, and then returned to Famagusta and started working at his father’s bookshop. On August 14 he had to leave his hometown along with thousands of other Greek Cypriots, who fled for their lives because of the advancing Turkish army who invaded Cyprus in July ’74.
