Mkrtich Matevosyan is a painter and graphic designer. He was born in 1961 in Gyumri city, Armenia. In 1995, he founded the Actual Art cultural union NGO which is mainly engaged in publishing activity. Actual Art publishes books on contemporary literature, art, philosophy, as well as children's books. Mkrtich Matevosyan is also the co-founder-editor of Actual Art magazine. He has 3 children.
David Machado was born in Lisbon in 1978. He has a degree in economics from ISEG, Lisbon's School of Economics and Management, but soon devoted himself to writing fiction and children's literature. In 2005, he was awarded the Branquinho da Fonseca Prize for his children's book A Noite dos Animais Inventados and, in 2010, he was awarded the SPA/RTP Author Prize, in the category for Best Children and Youth book, for O Tubarão na Banheira.
Siri Odfjell Risdal (41) is Festival Director for Kapittel, Stavanger International Festival for Literature and Freedom of Speech at Sølvberget Library and Cultural Centre. Risdal is educated a librarian with a master’s in Literacy Studies, and has been a jury member for the Norwegian Ministry of Culture’s prizes for childrens literature, head of the jury for the Brage Prize for childrens literature and head of the Norwegian Cultural Council’s committee for comic books. From 2014 – 2019 Risdal was Project Manager for the Nordic Conference on childrens literature.
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.
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.
