Aleš Šteger (1973), poet, essayist, and publisher, is the Curator of Poetica II. He is one of the most important Slovenian authors of his generation. He became known outside the country in 1997 through his volume of poetry Kašmir, which appeared in German translation in 2001. For his publications, he has received many awards, such as the Rožanc Award, which is awarded annually in Slovenia for the best essayistic work. He also translates from German and Spanish, including works by Gottfried Benn, Durs Grünbein, and Pablo Neruda. Šteger is a Member of the Academy of Arts, Berlin. His most recent publications in German are his volume of poetry Knjiga teles (Buch der Körper; Schöffling & Co. 2012) and his novel Odpusti (Archiv der toten Seelen; Schöffling & Co. 2016).

Yuri Andrukhovych (1960) is a Ukrainian poet, novelist, and essayist. He studied journalism and began his literary career in 1982 as a lyric poet. In 1985, he was joint founder of the literary performance group Bu-Ba-Bu. With five novels and five volumes of poetry, he ranks as the best known contemporary Ukrainian writer. His work has been translated into numerous languages and has been honored with national and international prizes: In 2005, he received the Special Prize of the Erich Maria Remarque Peace Prize, in 2006 the Leipzig Book Award for European Understanding and in 2014 he, together with the members of the Moscow artists’s collective Pussy Riot, was awarded the Hannah Arendt Award for Political Thought. Alongside his literary activity, he translates from German, Polish, Russian, and English. Andrukhovych is Vice-president of the Ukrainian Writer’s Association and Member of the German Academy for Language and Literature. His most recent German publications are his novel Perwersija (Perversion; Suhrkamp 2011) and the edited collection Euromaidan: Was in der Ukraine auf dem Spiel steht (Suhrkamp 2014), which addresses the current crisis in the Ukraine.

Bernardo Atxaga (1951), novelist, short-story writer, poet, and children’s author, was born in the Basque Country, at Asteasu, Spain. Before building a career as a professional writer, he studied Economics in Bilbao and Philosophy in Barcelona. His first novel appeared in 1976 (Ziutateaz), his first volume of poetry in 1978 (Etiopia). His literary breakthrough came in 1988 with his award-winning volume of stories, Obabakoak (Obabakoak oder das Gänsespiel; Unionsverlag 1995), which has been translated into more than 20 languages. Since then, he has published numerous novels and volumes of stories and of poetry as well as books for children and adolescents. Atxaga is regarded as the most important contemporary writer of Basque literature. His work makes an important contribution to establishing the Basque language as a literary medium. He has been honored several times with the important Premio de la Crítica and the Premio Euskadi de Literatura; in addition, he received the Prix Millepages (1991) and the Prix des Trois Couronnes (1995). His most recent work to appear in German is his novel The Accordionist’s Son (Der Sohn des Akkordeonspielers; Insel Verlag 2006).

Heinrich Detering (1959) is a German poet, essayist, and literary scholar. In 1988, he received a PhD and then in 1993 completed his habilitation thesis in Göttingen on the topic The Open Secret. On the Literary Productivity of a Taboo from Winckelmann to Thomas Mann. From 1995 to 2005, he was Professor of Modern German Literature and Modern Nordic Literature at Kiel. Since 2005, he has held the Chair in Modern German and Comparative Literature at Göttingen. In addition, he has held numerous Guest Professorships, including in Scandinavia, China, the USA, and elsewhere. Detering has published numerous volumes of poetry: His first volume of poetry, Zeichensprache (Wagener), appeared in 1978; since then, he has published with Wallstein works including Schwebstoffe (2004), Wrist (2009), and Old Glory (2012). For his poems, literary translations, and essays on poetry, he has been honored with, among other awards, the Julius Campe Award for Criticism, the Hans Christian Andersen Award, and many lectureships in poetics. Since 2011, Detering has been President of the German Academy for Language and Literature; in addition, he is a Member of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities and Member of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters. His most recent volume of poetry appeared in 2015, entitled Wundertiere (Wallstein).

Georgi Gospodinov (1968) is a Bulgarian writer, editor, columnist, and literary critic. He received a PhD in Bulgarian literary studies and is currently teaching at the Institute for Literary Studies at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences as well as the University of St.-Kliment-Ohridski at Sofia. He is the editor of the Bulgarian literary journal Literaturen vestnik (Literary Messenger) and publishes regularly in Bulgarian daily and weekly newspapers. In 1992, he made his debut with a collection of poetry, Lapidarium, which was followed by further poetry volumes, short stories, plays, an opera libretto, a graphic novel, screenplays, and two novels— Natural Novel (Natürlicher Roman; Droschl 2007) and Physics of Sorrow (Physik der Schwermut; Droschl 2014). Gospodinov is one of the most prominent Bulgarian writers today; his work has been translated into 23 languages and received many literary awards, amongst them the Bulgarian National Award for the best drama for both of his theatre plays (2004/2010) and the Bulgarian National Award Hristo G. Danov for the best work in fiction (2012). In 2008, he was a guest at the DAAD-Artists’s Program in Berlin; in 2012, he was a Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Berlin and, in 2015, he was the Siegfried Unseld Professor at the Humboldt University of Berlin. His most recent publication in German is a collection of short stories, entitled 8 minutes and 19 seconds (8 Minuten und 19 Sekunden; Droschl 2014).

Lavinia Greenlaw (1962), a British poet and novelist, has been a freelance artist and critic in various media since 1994. Among other things, she has published two novels and seven volumes of poetry, including Minsk (Faber & Faber 2003), which was shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot, the Forward, and the Whitbread Poetry Prize. Her sound installation Audio Obscura won the 2011 Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry. In addition to a series of documentaries, she has written and adapted several dramas for radio. Greenlaw is on the Council of the Royal Society of Literature. Besides her variegated artistic activity, she writes for the London Review of Books, The Guardian, The New Yorker, and elsewhere. From 2007 to 2013, she taught as Professor of Poetry at the University of East Anglia. In addition, she was artist-in-residence at the Science Museum in London, at the Royal Festival Hall, and at the Royal Society of Medicine. Her most recent publication, A Double Sorrow: A Version of Troilus and Criseyde (Faber & Faber 2014), a lyrical re-interpretation of Geoffrey Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde, was shortlisted for the Costa Poetry Award. Among her works published in German are her first novel Mary George of Allnorthover (Die Vision der Mary George; DuMont 2001) and, most recently, her collection of poetry Minsk (DuMont 2006).

Durs Grünbein (1962) is a German poet, essayist, and translator. He made his debut in 1988 with a collection of poetry entitled Grauzone morgens (Suhrkamp). In 1991, this volume was followed by Schädelbasislektion, and, in 1994, he published Falten und Fallen, Den Teuren Toten, as well as Von der üblen Seite (all published with Suhrkamp). In 2009/10, Grünbein formulated his poetology in the Frankfurt Lectures on Poetics entitled Vom Stellenwert der Worte. Grünbein’s work has received numerous awards, including the Peter Huchel Prize (1995), the Georg Büchner Prize (1995), and the state honor Pour le Mérite for Sciences and Arts (2008). He is, inter alia, a Member of the German Academy for Language and Literature and of the Academy of Arts, Berlin. In addition, Grünbein has held numerous international guest lectureships, for example, at New York University, Dartmouth College, and the Villa Aurora in Los Angeles. Since 2005, he has been Professor of Poetics at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. Grünbein’s most recent publication is a volume of poetry entitled Cyrano oder Die Rückkehr vom Mond (Suhrkamp 2014).

Navid Kermani (1967) is a German-Iranian prose author, essayist, and scholar of Oriental Studies. In 1998, he received a PhD in Islamic Studies and, in 2005, he completed his habilitation thesis in Oriental Studies. His literary debut was in 2002 with the story Das Buch der von Neil Young Getöteten (Ammann); it was followed by, among other things, the volume of stories Vierzig Leben (Ammann 2004) and the novel Dein Name (Hanser 2011). Kermani has also published a number of articles and essays, in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Der Spiegel, and elsewhere. For his work, he has received numerous awards, including the Kleist Prize (2012), the Joseph Breitbach Prize (2014), and the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade (2015). He is a Member of the German Academy for Language and Literature, the North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences, Humanities and the Arts, and the Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Hamburg. Kermani has been a Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Berlin; he has delivered the Frankfurt Lectures on Poetics and also the Lectures on Poetics in Göttingen and in Mainz. His most recent publication is Ungläubiges Staunen. Über das Christentum (Beck 2015).

Michael Krüger (1943), poet, prose writer, publisher, and translator, was the Curator of Poetica I. Since 1968, he has worked as editor at the publishing house Carl Hanser Verlag, which he directed from 1986 to 2013. In 1976, his first collection of poetry appeared, Reginapoly (Hanser). Further volumes of poetry and prose followed, including the story Was tun? Eine altmodische Geschichte (Wagenbach), as well as novels, editions, and translations. From 1976 to 2014, he was editor of the literary journal Akzente. Krüger is a Member of the German Academy for Language and Literature. He has received, inter alia, the Joseph Breitbach Prize (2010) and the Literature Award of the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts (2004), of which he has been President since 2013. His most recent publication is the collection of stories Der Gott hinter dem Fenster (Haymon 2015).

Martin Mosebach (1951) is a German novelist, short-story writer, and essayist. His first novel, Das Bett, appeared in 1983. Since then, he has published nine more novels and numerous stories, libretti, film scripts, stage and radio plays, and poetry. Mosebach has also published a large number of essays and articles in journals and newpapers, for example, in Sinn und Form, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, and Süddeutsche Zeitung. Frankfurt am Main takes centre stage in many of his novels, such as Westend (Hoffmann & Campe 1992), Eine lange Nacht (Aufbau 2000), and Der Mond und das Mädchen (Hanser 2007). In addition, Mosebach’s extensive travels have left traces in his works; thus Die Türkin (Aufbau 1999) is set in Lycia and Das Beben (Hanser 2005) is set in India. His work has received numerous awards, including the Heimito von Doderer Prize (1999), the Kleist Prize (2002), and the Georg Büchner Prize (2007). Mosebach is a Member of the German Academy for Language and Literature, the Berlin Academy of Arts, and the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts and has been a Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Berlin and the Morphomata International Center for Advanced Studies in Cologne. His most recent publication is his novel Das Blutbuchenfest (Hanser 2014).

Paul Muldoon (1951), poet and literary critic, was born in Northern Ireland and has lived in the USA since the 1980s. He ranks as one of the most important English-language poets of the post-war era. He published his first volume of poetry, New Weather, in 1973 at the age of 21. It has been followed by a total of twelve volumes of poetry and numerous other publications. Muldoon has received a series of major literary prizes, including the T.S. Eliot Prize for The Annals of Chile and the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for Moy Sand and Gravel. From 1999 to 2004, Muldoon was Professor of Poetry at Oxford and, at present, he holds a Chair in Creative Writing at Princeton University. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In addition, he edits the poetry section of the New Yorker. Besides his works in poetry, Muldoon is active as a translator, librettist, musician, and songwriter. His most recently published volume of poetry is entitled One Thousand Things Worth Knowing (Faber & Faber 2015). In 1998, the collection of poetry Auf schmalen Pfaden durch den tiefen Norden: ausgewählte Gedichte (Hanser) appeared in German.

Ilma Rakusa (1946) is a writer, translator, journalist, and literary scholar. Born in Slovakia to a Hungarian mother and Slovene father, she attended primary and grammar school in Zurich. In 1977, she made her debut with the poetry collection Wie Winter (Edition Howeg). Since then, numerous volumes of poetry, stories, and essays have appeared, including Ein Strich durch alles. Neunzig Neunzeiler (Suhrkamp 1997), Von Ketzern und Klassikern. Streifzüge durch die russische Literatur (Suhrkamp 2003), and Schnee. Erzählungen und Prosaminiaturen (Suhrkamp 2006). Rakusa translates from Hungarian, Serbo-Croat, Russian, and French and publishes in Die Zeit and Neue Zürcher Zeitung. In 1991, she won the Petrarca Prize for translation, in 2003, she was honored with the Adalbert von Chamisso Prize, in 2009, she received the Swiss Book Prize. In 2005, she held the Chamisso Lectureship in Poetics at the Technische Universität Dresden and the Saxon Academy of Arts and was Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Berlin in 2010/11. Rakusa is a Member of the German Academy for Language and Literature. Her most recent publication is Autobiographisches Schreiben als Bildungsroman. Stefan-Zweig-Poetikvorlesung (Sonderzahl 2014).

Monika Rinck (1969) is a German poet, prose writer, and essayist. Her first collection of poetry, Verzückte Distanzen (Zu Klampen), appeared in 2004; it was followed by, inter alia, the volume of essays Ah, das Love-Ding (Kookbooks 2006) and the collection of poems Honigprotokolle (Kookbooks 2012). Rinck translates from Hungarian (together with Orsolya Kalász), Slovene, and English. In addition, she performs with Ann Cotten and Sabine Scho as the Rotten Kinck Schow. In 2013, she received the Peter Huchel Prize and, in 2015, she was awarded the Kleist Prize. Rinck has taught at the German Institute for Literature in Leipzig and the Department for Language Arts (Creative Writing) in Vienna. In 2015, she held the Liliencron Lectureship in Poetry at Kiel. Since 2012, she has been a Member of the Berlin Academy of Arts and, since 2014, a Member of the German Academy for Language and Literature. In 2015, she published the essay collection Risiko und Idiotie. Streitschriften (Kookbooks).

Ana Ristović (1972) is a Serbian poet and translator. She has published five volumes of poetry and has been honored many times for her poetry. She has been awarded the Branko Radičević Prize for the best Serbian poetry debut (Snovidna voda, 1994), the Branko Miljković Prize, the Milica Stojadinović Srpkinja Prize, the Hubert Burda Prize for young East European Poets, and most recently the Disova Prize. Her poems have been translated into many languages; in 2007, the volume So dunkel, so hell (Jung und Jung) appeared in German. In addition, German translations of her poetry have been published in various journals, such as manuskripte, Akzente, Lichtungen, and Schreibhefte. Besides writing essays and reviews, she was the editor of the cultural journal Balcanis. Ristović currently lives in Belgrade and is a Member of the Serbian Literary Association, the Serbian P.E.N. Club, the Association of Literary Translators of Serbia, and the Slovene Writers’ Association.

Sjón (1962) is an Icelandic poet, novelist, and songwriter. He has published twelve volumes of poetry since the age of 16. His poems have been translated into more than twenty languages and appeared in various foreign-language anthologies and magazines. The collection of poems The Song of the Stone Collector (Gesang des Steinesammlers; Kleinheinrich) was nominated for the Icelandic Literary Prize in 2007. Sjón has written nine novels: The Blue Fox (Schattenfuchs; S. Fischer) won the Nordic Council’s Literary Prize in 2005; From the Mouth of the Whale (Das Gleißen der Nacht; S. Fischer) was nominated for both the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Awards and the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize. Moonstone. The Boy Who Never Was (Der Junge, den es nicht gab; S. Fischer) won the Icelandic Literature Prize in 2013. In addition, he has written children’s books, film scripts, plays, libretti, and song lyrics. He also wrote lyrics for the Icelandic singer Björk and was nominated for an Oscar for I’ve seen it all from Lars von Trier’s Dancer in the Dark in 2001. From 2007 to 2008, he was Samuel-Fischer-Visiting Professor at the Free University of Berlin. Sjón lives in Reykjavík and is President of the Icelandic P.E.N. Center.