Jean-Claude Henkes was born in 1965 in Defferdange, Luxembourg. In 1981, he was hired by the Ernster bookshop in Luxembourg city. He’s been working there since and is now a member of the bookshop's Strategic Development Comity.

Angelo Mitchievici is a professor, author, literary critic and essayist.

Annina Rabe is a literary critic for daily newspaper Expressen and the Swedish Public Radio, among others. She regularly lectures on contemporary Swedish literature, both in Sweden and abroad. 

Stavros Stavrou Karayanni is Associate Professor of English in the Department of Humanities of the European University of Cyprus.  He is a critical theorist, performer, and creative writer. 

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.

Philip Jones is editor of The Bookseller, a magazine he first joined in 1996. He lives in North London, with his partner and three children.

Gaelle Josse (born 1960) is a French poet and novelist. She received the EUPL for France in 2015 for Le dernier gardien d'Ellis Island. Her work has been translated into several languages.

Ronan Colgan is managing director of the Wordwell Publishing Group, publisher of Books Ireland, Wordwell Books and former president of Publishing Ireland, the Irish Publishers’ Association. 

Mohammed Kameleddine Gaha (1949, Menzel Kamel, Tunisia) is a professor emeritus of French literature at the University Tunis-el-Manar, and a member of the Beit-al-Hikma Academy of Carthage, Tunisia.

Claire Malcolm is the founder and chief executive of New Writing North, where she leads the Gordon Burn Prize, the Northern Writers’ Awards, the David Cohen Literature Award, Durham Book Festival and editorially directs the Mayfly book imprint.