Elīna Brasliņa (1988) is an illustrator from Latvia.

She has worked on more than thirty titles, most of them children’s books by Latvian authors, but books illustrated by Elīna have
been published in more than sixty countries, and translated into more than forty languages, the most widely-published being Lawrence Schimel’s “Bedtime, Not Playtime”
and “Early One Morning”.

She is the author and illustrator of “Let’s Draw A Story!”, which was part of the BRAW Amazing Bookshelf and the Illustrator’s Exhibition at the Bologna
Children’s Book Fair, and won a Green Island award at the Nami Island Concours 2026.
She is also a production designer at the Latvian animation studio “Atom Art”, and has
worked on two feature-length animated films.
Elīna makes feminist-leaning art in her spare time, and does some translation work on the side. Her not-so-secret passion is comics,
and she is currently trying to work on her first graphic novel for kids. She lives in Riga with her daughter, husband and dog.

Lotta Geffenblad was born in 1962 in a small community in Skåne. She grew up close to animals and nature. After school, where she mostly drew, she ended up in a darkroom at an advertising agency for a year. By chance, she applied for an education in Stockholm and attended Beckmans from 1982 to 1985.

Her current assignments vary between illustrating picture books based on her own and other people's texts and illustration assignments for other clients. For many years, she worked almost exclusively with animation. This resulted in films such as the Björnes Magasin vignette, the feature film Bland Tistlar and the films about Prick and Fläck. The films are often made in collaboration with other artists.

Rūta Briede (1984) is an latvian illustrator, scenographer, children’s book author, lecturer at the Latvian Academy of Art, and art editor at Liels un mazs publishing house.
Her first book, The Queen of Seagulls, has been translated into English, French, Korean, German, and Galician. In 2022, her illustrations for the poetry collection Zenīts by Marts
Pujāts were shortlisted for the Illustrators Exhibition at the prestigious Bologna Children’s Book Fair.

Together with her colleagues at Liels un mazs, Rūta created the legendary poetry picture-book series Bikibuks and served as its art editor. For ten years, she has taught
illustration at the Latvian Academy of Art, and her students have achieved significant international success.

Rūta’s own list of awards includes the International Jānis Baltvilks Award of the Baltic Sea Region, the Golden AppleAward of the Latvian Book Art Competition, and several
nominations for Latvia’s Spēlmaņu nakts Theatre Awards for productions where she created the visual design. Rūta’s artistic style is known for vividly highlighting a book’s
mood and core idea. In her illustrations, she is constantly exploring new directions to develop her skills and to create outstanding books that are significant within both Latvian
and international children’s literature.

Stina Nilsson is a dance artist who has been working with improvisation as an artistic method and stage expression for the past fifteen years. She is interested in dance as a way of being present, alone and together with others. Stina's artistry is based on interdisciplinary collaborations with musicians, poets, artists and other dancers. She has toured Europe with her works and often performs in site-specific outdoor and indoor public spaces. Stina has been based in Jönköping since 2017.

Martine Letterie was born in Amsterdam on 12 December 1958. She grew up in Voorburg and studied Dutch Language and Literature in Utrecht. She then spent more than twelve years teaching Dutch at various schools. Since publishing her first children´s book in 1996, she has been a full-time writer.
She has now written more than a hundred books for different age groups. The Second World War is a recurring theme in her work, which has to do with her family history.
She wrote many of her books on this theme on commission from or in collaboration with Memorials. Kinderen met een ster en Groeten van Leo for example, she wrote for Herinneringscentrum Kamp Westerbork.
She bases her stories on true events. For Wij blijven bij elkaar (We Stay Together), she travelled to Israel to interview the children of the Birnbaum family. They became the main characters in the book.
At the moment, she is giving a lot of lectures in Germany, about Kinderen met een
ster. In Germany Nazism is only a theme for schoolchildren from the age of fifteen and up, Martine thinks it is necessary to discuss it earlier.
Her book Kinderen met een ster (Children with a Star) was awarded the Zilveren Griffel in 2017, and Verboden te vliegen (Forbidden to Fly) received the Thea Beckman Prize in 2020.
In 2022, she received the Kleine Cervantes for Wij blijven bij elkaar.

Jef Aerts grew up in a village between the woods near Leuven, Belgium. After publishing
four novels and a book of poetry for adults, he found his true voice in children’s literature.
He writes timeless stories, characterized by a powerful style, strong sense for language and
emotional sophistication.

His work won numerous awards, including four Zilveren Griffels for Bigger than a Dream
(2013), Fish don’t Melt (2013), The Blue Wings (2018) and Robber’s Cub (2024). Bigger
than a Dream, the picture book he made with the Dutch/Swedish illustrator Marit
Törnqvist was awarded the Book Lion, prize for the best children's book in Dutch.
Translation rights have been sold in more than 20 languages.

Jef has three children and lives on a small farm with lots of animals.

www.jefaerts.be
https://www.flandersliterature.be/books-and-authors/author/jef-aerts

Eloise Williams grew up opposite a library in South Wales and was the inaugural Children’s Laureate for Wales 2019-21.

The author of several books for young readers, she delights in walking through liminal spaces with her words and bringing overlooked voices to life. Her work delves into the past and its impact on the present, unearths stories of history and mystery, celebrates nature, life and death and the spaces in between.

Her publications include Gaslight, Seaglass, Elen’s Island, Wilde, Honesty & Lies, The Tide Singer and The Curio Collectors. She is a writer and co-editor of The Mab, a vibrant retelling of the stories of The Mabinogi which she is currently adapting for the stage.

Eloise now lives in a very old cottage at the sea’s edge in Pembrokeshire. She collects hag stones and ghost stories, swims through moonlight, and sings Welsh songs out loud on the beach.