Åsa Rosén is an author and illustrator who was born and raised in Tornedalen in a village near the Arctic Circle and the river that forms the border with Finland. She has written and illustrated a number of books for children and young people. A few years ago, she completed a trilogy set in the Torne Valley, "Viskornas dal" (Valley of the Whispers), in which she mixes ancient magic, creatures and everyday realism. The books were nominated for the Norrland Literature Prize.
Åsa describes the culture of Tornedalen as a melting pot of Swedish, Finnish and Sami. "Old folklore has survived and you can still find seers, healers and people who have the ability to tune blood. For example, you can contact someone to find out where your stolen bike is. I want to bring this culture, magic and mysticism into my work."
She is now married to a Stockholm man and lives with her family in an old bakery outside Stockholm.

Tania Filatova is a Ukrainian artist, illustrator, and art teacher. Currently, due to the war in Ukraine, she lives in Sweden, in Malmö. She grew up in a family of publishers, has a classical art education, and extensive experience in creating books. Some of her main projects include illustrations for the classic children's literature books by Astrid Lindgren "Vi på Saltkråkan" and Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland", "Alice Through the Looking-Glass", which were published in Ukraine. Over the past two years, Tania has participated in more than ten different exhibitions in Sweden and has also conducted numerous drawing workshops for adults and children.

Emma Fager Malmström has been a yoga teacher for 10 years, and teaches yoga with a focus on presence and awareness, for a clearer mind and a calmer body. Emma is trained in yin yoga, restorative yoga, power yoga, teenage yoga, yoga for highly sensitive people and reiki healing. She runs a yoga studio in Malmö, works at Författarcentrum Syd and illustrates, paints and writes.

Pia Eriksson (1983) grew up in Gävle but now lives in Vimmerby. After many years as a guide in Astrid Lindgren's childhood home, Pia took her love of writing and storytelling further and started the account korsdragspoesi on Instagram in 2018. Through poetry and texts, Pia has shared her life experiences of mental illness and reflected on how we create both space and self-worth. The account currently has over 70,000 followers who share, save and tattoo themselves with poetry.
In 2023, she published her first book called Till dig som grolar. A biography that also includes her poetry and illustrations by the artist Stina Wollter.

Stina Wirsén is a writer, artist and illustrator who has received numerous awards for her work. She has been working as a children's book author and illustrator for 30 years and has contributed to over 200 books.
Wirsén also works in film, theatre, illustration and public art.

Emma Virke is a picture book creator and visual artist. Her books are known for exploring the limitations of the physical book and have been nominated for the August Prize three times. In 2020, together with Åsa Lind, she was awarded the Snöbollen for Swedish Picture Book of the Year for the accordion book Kom dagen, kom natten. Here we find the events of the day on one side and the night and the dream on the other. Another acclaimed book is Presenten, published in 2023 and a collaboration with Emelie Östergren. Here we find no less than three different books in the same book and characters who wander between them.

Els Beerten studied Dutch and English at KU Leuven while simultaneously pursuing a teaching degree at the same university. She later spent several years in day school at the Toneelacademie in Maastricht. Her debut work, Scenes ('Scènes'), was published in 1987. Her latest novel, De rest van ons leven (‘The Rest of Our Lives') (Querido), has been available in bookstores since March 2022. Her books have received several awards and have been translated into multiple languages.

She was Writer in Residence in Paramaribo (2005), Ledig House in New York (2013), and the National Centre for Writing in Norwich (2022).

In addition to being a writer, she is also a teacher. For many years, she taught Dutch, English, Creative Writing and Drama.

As a creative writing teacher, she worked for several years in South Africa as part of the 'Vingeroefeningen' project (a storytelling course for young people from diverse cultures, commissioned by the King Baudouin Foundation). In Suriname, she conducted workshops in Creative Writing at the Institute for Teacher Training (IOL) and was a guest lecturer at the Schrijversvakschool in Paramaribo for several years. Since 2018, she has been offering an annual evening course in Creative Writing at CC Het Gasthuis.

Kristof Devos (b. 1981) is an illustrator, author and art teacher. He also designs watches. His work tends to be labelled idiosyncratic as a result of the emotional subjects he explores, such as friendship, death, or standing up for yourself. His central characters are often outsiders. His work has been described as both poetic and modest. In January 2024 he started his own Podcast ‘Podlood', where he talks about illustration with a guest who is by no means an illustrator. This podcast is a great example of how, during the years, illustration has become his main vehicle to connect (with) people.

Anna Woltz (1981) lives in The Netherlands and has written twenty-eight books. Some are adventurous stories for ten-year-olds (My Especially Weird Week with Tess), others challenging young adult novels (The Tunnel, A Hundred Hours of Night). Her books have been translated into twenty-eight languages and have won many prizes; Gips (Plaster Cast) won the Dutch Gouden Griffel. Woltz’s books are loved by both children and adults. Children enjoy the exciting, funny and sometimes crazy adventures and the lovable characters. Adults have praised Woltz for her beautiful language, psychological depth and fresh, humorous narrative voice.

Themes that are particularly close to Woltz’s heart are family relationships, growing up and the question all people have to face sooner or later: how am I going to do this – this amazing and complicated thing called life? Quite a few of her books are about young characters who discover their parents are no different from all other human beings: sometimes they make mistakes and sometimes they have no clue what to do. Part of growing up is about accepting this.

Inspired by Ronja the Robber's Daughter and The Lionheart Brothers by Astrid Lindgren, Yorick Goldewijk (b 1979) knew at an early age that he wanted to become a writer. Nevertheless, after secondary school he chose to study music and technology at the Utrecht School of the Arts, and became a musician. He mainly writes music on commission, for museum projects, podcasts, games, films and so on. This financial independence gives him the freedom to additionally write the books he wants. In 2019, he made his debut with Billy Extra Plankgas, but he put himself in the spotlight with the magical-realist children's book adventure Films That Run Nowhere (2021), which won him the Gouden Griffel in 2022, and which is currently being filmed and has now been translated into 10 languages. Last year, he surprised with the exciting children's book Thousand & Me, an idea-rich story beyond time and space that questions the nature of reality. Recently, De boom die een wereld was also in bookshops: a collection of sparkling animal stories for ages 6 to 99 with illustrations by Jeska Verstegen. Yorick also wrote this year's children's book for the Month of Philosophy, The Chaos in Lois.