2020

Helén Foss has worked nearly 30 years in bookselling. She started out as part time help in a small bookshop while taking flying lessons, but advanced and was responsible for books in general in a larger bookshop. After taking the bookselling trade school, she became manager in very large bookshop just outside of Oslo. The last 18 years, she has worked as CEO for the independent bookshops Fri Bokhandel SA. She is a board member in the Norwegian Bookseller Association and a board member at Bokbasen, a company for shared metadata for the Norwegian book industry.

Clea Bautista is Sales manager at the Arnold Busck bookshop in Copenhagen. 

Doris Plöschberger was born in Judenburg (Austria). She studied German Literature and Philosophy and is currently editorial director for German Literature at the Suhrkamp publishing house in Berlin.

Kari J. Spjeldnæs (53) has more than thirty years' working experience from Norwegian publishing, fifteen of them as Publishing Director in Aschehoug Publishing House. Spjeldnæs holds a Master of Literature from University of Oslo and has broad literary and leadership experience, from editorial and board work and in various committees for the Norwegian Publishers Association. She is currently involved in a project on digital development, writes a non-fiction book on reading and holds several board positions.

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. 

Jean Back (1953) was born in Dudelange (Luxembourg). After finishing secondary education in Esch-sur-Alzette, he became a civil servant, first at the Ministry of Family, then at the Ministry of Culture. Between 1989 and 2016, he was in charge of the National Audiovisual Centre of Dudelange (CNA). In 2003, he turned to literature with Wollekestol, a tribute to his hometown and its steel industry. It was followed by several books, among them Amateur which won the EUPL Prize in 2010 and is translated in six languages.

Nenad Rizvanović was born in Osijek in 1968. He completed his studies of Croatian language and literature at Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb and in 2019 completed his PhD at the Faculty of Philosophy in Zadar with the thesis “Poststructural Analysis of the Role of Reader”. He teaches courses on publishing at Faculty of Philosophy in Rijeka. He has been publishing literary criticism and prose since 1985.

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.

Tauno Vahter is editor in chief at Tänapäev Publishers.

Born on September 11th, 1979, Aleksandar Sazdov is a manager specialized in the Publishing sector. In 2002, he graduated from the University Saints Cyril and Methodius of Skopje in Macedonia with a BA in Management. Since graduating, he’s been working at TRI Publishing Centre, first as a graphic designer and marketing executive before accessing leadership positions as Marketing manager, Art and Marketing Director, and finally Sales Manager and Retail Bookstores Manager.