Canisia Lubrin is a writer, editor, critic, English professor and the author of augur (Gap Riot Press, 2017) and Voodoo Hypothesis (Wolsak & Wynn, 2017), named to several notable books lists, including CBC’s Best Books of 2017, finalist for the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award, the Pat Lowther Memorial Award and the Raymond Souster Award. Lubrin lives in Whitby, Canada.

Author C. R. Tsiailis resides in Cyprus. His passion for writing consumes most of his time, when he is not out training as a triathlete. He travels a lot, recording memories from everywhere, which he incarnates (along with his observations on human behaviour), in all genres (poetry, short story, novel, theatre). His writing tends towards a blend of social, psychological and philosophical quest. He publishes internationally in literary magazines and anthologies, both in Greek and in English. He has received numerous distinctions in Panhellenic literary contests for poems, short stories and theatre plays. He is the author of “Throwing Dice On A Chessboard”, 2010, “The Green Divorce”, 2012, the sci-fi novel ‘Klotho Surfaces’, April 2016 and the short story collection “ΨΩΜΙ (=bread)” 2017. He also writes articles, interviews of artists and book reviews for Literary Magazines in Greece. He is occasionally a member of Panhellenic literary contests’ committees.

Born in Nice (France) August 5, 1968, at 4:30 am. It was a Monday. Suffice to say that it was necessary to immediately get to work ... Convinced to be French for 15 years, he discovered Italy the day he moved to Rome with his family. There he discovered literature, art, poetry. He moved to Brussels in 1987 and in 1989 founded the project "maelstrÖm," a multi-arts and multimedia project. Director of the magazine and maelstrÖm collection before they became fully publishing houses, screenplayer ("polders" real Claudio Serughetti. - Arte / Rtbf), co-founder of the poetic ReEvolution network with Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Antonio Bertoli and Alejandro Jodorowsky, he has long worked in the "homeless-help” field, in Brussels, as night educator and project manager as "word spaces for the homelesses." In 2007 he created the fiEstival, International Poetry Festival in Brussels and became director of the House of Poetry of Amay (Belgium) and Editions L'Arbre à paroles. In December 2010 he opened, in Brussels, the Bookstore maelstrÖm 4 1 4. He is also a poet, painter, performer and therapist. He has published comics scenarios ("The Far Side of the city," 3 vols.), Poetry ("Opened eye Closed eye", “Faith, knowledge and remembering”) and a book of stories ("Tales of Nod"), all published in maelstrÖm Reevolution.

Dr. Diti Ronen is a poet, an editor and a translator of poetry. Ronen has published six full length poetry books, as well as numerous essays and articles. Her poetry has been translated into many languages and published in literary magazines and anthologies worldwide. Ronen performs her work on different stages in Israel and around the world. She was awarded three International poetry awards, including the Terra Poetica Award, two national awards, prizes of honors, poetry residencies and scholarships..

Dr.Małgorzata Lebda (b.1985) grew up in Żelaźnikowa Wielka, a village in the Beskid Mountains. Ultra marathon runner, mountaineer and photographer, she holds a PhD in Literary Theory and Audiovisual Arts and works as an academic lecturer in Kraków. She has four volumes of poetry to her name; her most recent book, Matecznik (Queen Cells, 2016) has won the title of the Kraków Book of the Month, Stanisław Barańczak Fellowship (the Poznań Literary Award) and ‘Orpheus’, the Konstanty Ildefons Gałczyński Prize.

Dr.Molly Joseph was born in 1956 as the daughter of teacher parents, the late M. M. Joseph and the late Annamma Joseph in the serene village of Kongorpilly, Kerala. She grew up among three brothers, got married to Mr.Xavier Gregory, and has a happy family, son Greg Xavier (wife Meera, son Noah) and daughter Sneha Xavier (husband Binil, son Aiden).
Dr.Molly Joseph, ( M.A., M.Phil., PGDTE, EFLU, Hyderabad) had her Doctorate in Post War American Poetry. She retired as the H.O.D., Department of English, St.Xavier's College, Aluva, Kerala, and now works as Professor, Communicative English at FISAT, Kerala. She has thirty eight years of teaching experience and serves as Teacher Trainer, Recruiter, and Subject Expert. She is a reputed Orator and Social Activist working for the less privileged. She writes travelogues, poems and short stories. She has published four books of poems - Aching Melodies, December Dews, Autumn Leaves and Myna's Musings. She is a Bilingual Poet, and writes in Malayalam and English. She is a poet columnist in Spill Words, the international Online Journal. She has been awarded Kala Prathibha by Chithrasala Film Society, Kerala and Prathibha Puraskaram by Aksharasthree, Malayalam group of poets, Kerala in 2018 . Dr.Molly Joseph has been conferred Poiesis Award of Honour as one of the International Juries in the international award ceremonies conducted by Poiesis Online.com at Banglore, Karnataka, India, on May 20th, 2018. .

Elena Jordanou was born in Paphos, a coastal town in Cyprus. She studied music at the National Conservatory of Athens and is a graduate of classical guitar and musicology in theory, counter-harmony and fugue. Besides electric and classical guitar tutoring for twenty years, she has worked as a pianist and music entertainer in hotels and nightclubs. She has participated in the creation of the personal disc of the Cypriot poet and musician Andreas Artemis, playing guitar and presented his work in Nicosia. She played for the philharmonic orchestra of Pafos and participated in the celebrations of the accession of Cyprus to Europe by playing guitar under the auspices of the Municipality of Paphos. She took part in the master class of the renowned guitarists Leo Brouwer, Costas Cotsiol, AnielloDesiderio and Sabrina Vlaskalic. Currently, she is preparing a classic guitar duet recital, which she will present all over Cyprus.

One would think that a lady who has bagged so many awards, accolades, degrees and who is a Harvard fellow would be snobbish or pompous. But not Funke. She’s quite the opposite: earthy, super friendly, open minded, zealous about life, fun loving and possessing of an intellectually stimulating sense of humour. She’s a great talker and when I say great I don’t mean she talks with irrelevance or too much. I mean a profound and inspiring talker. A simple chat with her can change your life.

Gábor Lanczkor was born in Székesfehérvár, Hungary, in 1981. He was studying in Budapest, and spent longer periods in Rome, Ljubljana and London. He is an award-winning author with eleven published books; novels, poetry volumes, children’s books and essays.  He is the guitarist of the band MédeiaFiai, and is involved in the musical project Anarchitecture. His selected poems in English were published under the title Sound Odyssey in 2016 (Poetry wala, Mumbai). He lives is a tiny Hungarian village with his wife and two daughters.

Grzegorz Kwiatkowski (born in 1984 in Gdańsk, Poland) - poet, musician. Published six books: "Przeprawa" 2008, "Eine Kleine Todesmusik" 2009, "Osłabić" 2010, "Radości" 2013, "Spalanie" 2015, “Sową” 2017 in the best Polish publishing house – Biuro Literackie. Translated into English (Marek Kazmierski – “Powinni się nie urodzić / They Should Not Have Been Born” – the first trilogy of books) and German (Bernhard Hartmann – the new trilogy of books). The English book was published in 2011 by OFF Press Publishing House in Great Britain. The beneficiary of the "Artist in Residence" Scholarship (Kulturkontakt Austria, 2016). The beneficiary of the International House of Writers Graz Scholarship (2015, Austria). The beneficiary of the „Styria Artist in Residence” (2017). His poems in German were published in "Ostragehege", “Lichtungen” and “Keine Delikatessen”. Selected poems were also translated into English by Elżbieta Wójcik-Leese and published in Poetry Wales. His poetry is taking part in the European Versopolis Project. Member of the music group Trupa Trupa (a band Sasha Frere-Jones from New York Times called "one of the best in the World”). Author of the script for the “Duety niestniejące” play by Theater Dada von Bzdülöw and Mikołaj Trzaska (2011). Co-author of the libretto adaption for “Madame Curie” opera by Elżbieta Sikora (2011). Created the visual installations together with Maciej Salamon and Maciej Chodziński – “Powinni się nie urodzić” (2010) and “Niech żyją nam / Nie żyją nam” (2012)

Born 1961 in Ohcejohka/Utsjoki, lives in Sámiland, North Finland. Poet, writer, translator and director and producer of documentary films and music videos.Worked before as a journalist, radio host and reporter. Published 6 poem books in Sámi: Gollebiekkatalmmidievva(1989), Jiehkivuolderuonasgiđđa(1993), Silkeguobbara lákca (1995), Máilmmis dása (2001), Camera Poetica - Suonat (2008) and Beaivváš čuohká gaba – Aurinko juo kermaa (2014).

Ihalainen has written 33 books of poetry, mostly in Finnish, but also in English, Danish and Swedish, since 1978. He has written 10 books (f.ex.) about Mongolia, History of Wends, Arthur Rimbaud, Primitive money, Dwellings of Nomads and Eurasian Ethnopoetics. He translated 10 books of poetry: Paul Bowles, Gary Snyder, Jerome Rothenberg, Patti Smith, Diane di Prima, John Cage and Ethnopoetics. He has own printinghouse and Publishing House Palladium Kirjat in Siuro, Finland. He was awarded with the Eino Leino Prize in 2010 (Finland).

Joanna Lundberg (born 1978) is a visual artist, writer, poet and photographer based in Oslo, Norway. She has a Master of Fine Art degree (MFA)from The Trondheim Academy of Fine Art, Norway. She was born in Stockholm, Sweden, and moved to Norway in 2001, where she since has lived and worked.

Joanna Lundberg has exhibited her visual art works in different countries, such as Norway, Sweden, Finland and Scotland. She has been a student at the Nordic writing schools Skrivekunst akademiet i Bergen(the Writing Academy in Bergen, Norway) and Biskops-Arnöförfattarskola (the writing school in Biskops-Arnö, Sweden) and has attended the feminist writing course Häxskolan (The Witch School) held by the Swedish writer Johanne Lykke Holm and Danish poet Olga Ravn.

Joanna Lundberg´s work has appeared in several literary publications and magazines, such as Skrivekunstakademiets "Stemmer fraSardinfabrikken" ("Voices from the Sardine Factory", published 2015). She has attended various literature readings in Norway, Sweden and Denmark. Lundberg has written interviews about literature and art for magazines. Her poetry and prose approaches themes such as family and close family relations, reflecting onmemory, childhood, mental illness and domestic violence.

Joanna Rzadkowska was born in Poland in 1986. She came to Norway in 1992, and lives currently in Oslo. She works as a school psychologist. In addition she writes and translates poetry from Polish and English. She has written two science fiction poetry collections: ”Repetition Compulsion” in 2012 and ”Luftmensch” in 2016, both at SolumBokvennen Publishing House. She has recently translated the poems of the Polish poet Zbigniew Herbert to Norwegian

Karen Lee is most captivated by Voice. Sound. Beat. A lyric-driven storyteller, devoted to social justice, reclaiming voice against tyrannies that silence. With sound / dub / spoken word poetry and vocals, she sings journeys into indigenous memory to heal colonial injury; probe wound, challenge systems that deny African woman-ness. She chants human rights across the margins into a future in which Africans survive in paradigms of greater abundance, expansion and freedom; Bettah! With intention, she invokes ancestors, shares from womb space to stir the listener with poetry, stories delivered with the poise and skill of a voiceover artist, vocalist and musician. Her credits span live, solo, session, choral, wedding, theatre, film, TV, radio, commercials and new media, internationally and locally including Jamaican-Creole, Japanese and English.
Karen Lee toured Japanese folk songs, Russian hymns and spirituals as a soloist and soprano with ICU-OGC choir around Tokyo, as well as the Japanese-Ukrainian Festival of Arts and Culture at Odessa National Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet, Odessa, Ukraine. She explored bel canto voice when she lived and worked in Japan for 6.5 years. A soulful soprano, E-Bb, Karen Lee vibrates a rich lower register.
As an educator, she has taught conversational and business English to hundreds of students of all ages, always incorporating inclusion, feminism, anti-oppressive practice and music. With a focus on diction and performance, she has also coached students of voice and music.
Karen Lee yearns for more sacred knowledge of her West African and Jamaican roots to inform her writing, performance practice and lifelong quest for development as an artist.

Kjersti-Bjørkmo is a Norwegian poet, based in Oslo, Norway. She was born in the Lofoten Islands north of the Arctic Circle and grew up in Tromsø, the world’s northernmost university town. She studied phonetics and linguistics at the University of Bergen and ‘Spanish language studies and Latin American studies’ in Bergen, Norway and in Quito, Ecuador. Besides her profession as a poet, she works for a Norwegian non profit foundation whose paramount object is to protect and promote freedom of expression and the environment for freedom of expression by encouraging lively debate and the dauntless use of the free word.

Magdalena Sørensen was born in 1977, in Stockholm, Sweden. She holds a Master’s degree in French and Literature.

Magdalena Sørensen works as a literary translator from French and English to Swedish. Among her authors are: Isabelle Baladine, Marguerite Duras, Édouard Glissant, Jocelyne Saucier, Simone de Beauvoir and Joan Didion. Having a special interest in Canadian fiction, she is the editor and translator of an anthology of Canadian Short Stories (published in 2015). She teaches Literary Translation at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Her chapbook, Trouble Shooting, was published in 2011, by Naissance.

Mari Laaksonen (1986) is Finnish poet and performer. Laaksonen has published two poetry collections, Galleria Noesis (ntamo 2013) and elämännielemä (ntamo 2016). She won the Finnish Poetry Slam Championship is 2013 and was a seminifinalist in Poerty Slam Coupe de Monde in Paris the following year. Last years she's been on working multi-art poetry performances.

Marios Eleftheriou was born in Nicosia, Cyprus. His studies in culinary arts in the Higher Hotel Institute of Cyprus initiated his carrier as a cook in five star hotels in Cyprus. He has worked for Hilton Cyprus Hotel for two decades and has cooked for private parties and embassies. He specializes in French, Chinese and Japanese cuisine, but is always eager to prepare a traditional local delicacy for friends at home

Nese Yasin was born in 1959 in Cyprus. She has published eight volumes of poetry, one novel and a research book on literature. Selections from her poetry has been translated to more than 30 languages, published in literary magazines and anthologies in different counties.

(Canadian poet volunteering and writing in Arusha, Tanzania)
Patrick Woodcock is the author of 9 books of poetry and countless reviews. His work has been translated and published in 15 languages. Since travel is so essential to his work, Mr. Woodcock has lived and worked in such diverse countries as Iceland, Poland, Russia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, The Sultanate of Oman, Saudi Arabia, Colombia, The Kurdish North of Iraq and Azerbaijan. Within Canada he has travelled from the West to East coasts, as well as working as a volunteer for almost a year with the elders of Fort Good Hope, NT - 20km south of the Arctic Circle. His seventh book Always Die Before Your Mother was shortlisted for Canada's ReLit award in 2010 and reached the number one spot on the Globe and Mail's bestseller list. His 8th book Echo Gods and Silent Mountains was extremely well reviewed all over the world and was called "...the most beautiful, deep and touching collection of poetry written on Kurds by a non-Kurd." by the Kurdish media network, Rudaw. He has read at International poetry festival's in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Slovenia, the Kurdish North of Iraq, Azerbaijan, England, The Republic of Georgia and Canada's Winnipeg International Writers Festival. While living in Colombia he read at the Ibague Poetry Festival, The XVIII Medellin International Poetry Festival and was the first poet from outside of Latin America to ever read at the Bogota Poetry Festival. Patrick's ninth book of poetry You can't bury them all which is set in the Kurdish North of Iraq, Fort Good Hope, NT Canada and Azerbaijan was published by ECW Press in 2016. You can't bury them all won the Alcuin Society Book Design Award for Poetry and was shortlisted for the JM Abraham Poetry Award in 2017. Patrick now lives in Arusha, Tanzania where he is volunteering at Baraa Primary School, Arusha, while completing his new book of poetry Farhang (ECW Press, 2021)..Because his work can never escape the politics of where he resides, he is also a member of PEN Canada.

DARIUSZ TOMASZ LEBIODA PH. D. – Polish poet, writer, literature professor, translator, editor was born in Bydgoszcz, Poland in 1958. He was Visiting Professor of The State University of New York at Buffalo – SUNY (2002) and longtime researcher at Polish universities and colleges. He is the author of more than eighty (80) books of poetry, short stories, novels, diaries, essays, scientific monographs of European romantic poets, contemporary Polish poets (Miłosz, Herbert, Szymborskas, Różewicz) and world novelists (Faulkner, Caldwell, Golding, Singer, Murdoch, Pahmuk, Coetzee, Naipaul, Lessing, Le Clézio). He is the winner of a lot of Polish literary prizes: that of Andrzej Bursa’s Award, Stanisław Wyspiański’s Award, UNESCO Prize of International Day of Poetry, Ianicius Award and Bruno’s Award. He is the leading poet of the New Generations in Poland– poets born between 1950 and 1960. His books have been translated into many languages – English, French, German, Spanish, Armenian, Arabic, Russian, Chinese and many more. He is the guest of many world literary festivals, including those in United States, Belgium, Iraq, China, Armenia, Georgia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Belarus, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. From year 2015, he is the President of European Medal Of Poetry And Art – HOMER.

Professor Marilena Zackheos is a scholar, poet, and music maker. She holds a BA in Philosophy and a BA in English Language and Literature from University of Virginia, an MA in English Studies from Queen Mary, University of London, as well as an MPhil and a PhD in English from George Washington University. She has published on postcolonial literary and cultural studies, psychoanalysis and trauma, gender and sexuality.

Victor Emmanuel Daelo Carmelo Nadera Jr. is a Professor 3 from the University of the Philippines Diliman on secondment.  As the Director IV of the Philippine High School for the Arts, his programs and projects include Peryani Andres (2013); Makiling Inter-Cultural Arts Festival (2014); Arawng PHSA (2014), BayaningSining(2014) with The Outstanding Students of the Philippines Inc.; the Rice Awareness Project (2014) with the United National Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO); the electrification of the National Arts Center in Mt. Makiling, Los Baños, and the establishment of a PHSA Campus in Bay, Laguna..

Professor Erika Martínez (Spain, 1979) writes poetry and teaches literature in Granada, a little southern city of Andalusia. She has published four books in Pre-Textos. With her first collection of poems, Flesh Color (2009), she won the National Radio Poetry Prize of Spain. Her second book, The False Roof (2013), was shortlisted for the Critics Award and was also chosen as one of the best Spanish poetry collections of the year by El Cultural. Her latest book of poems is entitled Colliding with Something (2017)

Orlando Cerasuolo is an archaeologist who studies and researches on the European and Mediterranean ancient history. He was born in Rome, Italy, in 1977 and studied at the Sapienza University. After completing his PhD he was post-Doctoral Fellow first in Greece (Scuola Archeologica Italiana di Atene), then in the USA (University at Buffalo SUNY), where he also taught courses on the archaeological evidence of inequality.  Orlando directed about hundred archaeological excavations, field projects and study projects in Italy, Greece, Turkey and Uzbekistan. He published more than fifty papers, both academic and for the general public, and in 2006 and 2007 he received two prizes for research works.

Rati Saxena – Poet/ Translator/ Editor (kritya) / Director Poetry festivals -kritya and Vedic scholar. She has  5 collections of poetry in Hindi and  two in English ( Translated by poet)  and one each in  to Malayalam, Italian, Estonian, and Vietnamese and English  translated by  other poets.  Her poems have been translated in other international languages like Chinese, Albanian , Spanish, Uzbek, Indonesian , Spanish, German etc. .She has a travelogue in Hindi “Cheentike par”, a Memoir in English“ Every thing is past tense “, and a criticism on the work of  famous Malayalam Poet Balamaniyamma’s work. Her study on the Atharvaveda has been published as “The Seeds of the Mind- a fresh approach to the study of Atharvaveda” under the fellowship of the Indira Gandhi National Center for Arts. She has translated about 12 Malayalam works, both prose and poetry, into Hindi and two poetry books of  Norwegian poets , one each from Welsh, Vietnamese.

Sona Van, poet/essayist is an Armenian medical school graduate who later received a master’s degree in Clinical Psychology from the University of Santa Monica in USA. She spent nearly fifteen years of her early career as one of the pioneer AIDS researchers at Kaiser Hospital, Los Angeles. Later, with her husband, Dr. Noobar Janoian, Sona Van founded All For Health-- a non-profit medical group which has grown to encompass fourteen different locations providing free healthcare to the indigent population of Los Angeles and its surrounding communities. She is also a sustaining member and contributor to one of the first Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation centers to be established in her native country, Armenia. Despite her significant devotion to healthcare and mental health, nowadays, she is best known for, and most significantly involved in her literary career.
She is the author of seven books of poetry that have been translated into fourteen different languages around the world by renowned authors and literary icons of their respective nations. Sona Van is the recipient of several accolades in honor of her work. She is particularly revered in her homeland, having been awarded the Nation’s most prestigious honors bestowed upon a writer. These include the Gold Medals awarded by the Ministry of Culture and the Armenian Ministry of Diaspora; the gold medal from the Golden Apricot Film Festival and the highest Presidential Honor, the “Movses Khorenatsi Medal” for her contribution in preserving the Armenian identity abroad.

Soraya Peerbaye’s first collection of poetry, Poems for the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names, was nominated for the Gerald Lampert Award. Her poems have appeared in Red Silk: An Anthology of South Asian Women Poets, the chapbook anthology Translating Horses, and Canadian literary journals. Her book, Tell: Poems for a Girlhood, won the 2016 Trillium Book Award for Poetry and was nominated for the Griffin Poetry Prize. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Guelph.

Sytse Jansma lives in Harlingen, which is in the northern part of the Netherlands. This province is called ‘Friesland’ and has its own language (Frisian). He is a bilingual poet (Frisian/Dutch) and published two poetry bundles and one picture book for children. He is also an animator/filmmaker and works as an educator at a theatre company. More info: www.sytsejansma.nl

Tony Mochama (born in ’75) is a journalist and popular columnist with the Standard Media Group. He is the author of ten books in different genres – from ‘Nairobi – The Night Runner’ to the crime noir ‘Princess Adhis & the Naija Coca Brodas’; as well as a collection of poetry (‘The Literary Gangsta’,) a poetry text book for high schools, and the latest being a collection of travel poems titled ’28 Days in Venice.’
Tony has been a participating poet or writer in residence not just at the great Kisii Kistrech Poetry festival, but also in Ourense, Montreal, London, Lisbon, Bayreuth, Saint Petersburg (Russia), Venice and Vienna, across the years.
He has won multiple literary awards, from the Burt Award for YA writing, the Leap Frog Press Prize, the Sanaa Awards as well as the continental Morland Miles Scholarship Award.

Zoltán Lesi (Hungary, 1982) lives and writes in Vienna/Austria and Budapest/Hungary. From 2001 to 2006, he studied software engineering at University of Szeged/Hungary. His diploma thesis was a software that analyzes poems. He published two books of poetry: Daphnis ketskéi (Daphnis' goat) (FISZ, 2009), Merül (Diving) (JAK-Prae, 2014) and the children’s book Karton és Matild – A zombimentők (Karton and Matild – The zombiesaver) (Móra Publishing House, 2017). His poetry is translated into German, English, Serbian and Polish. He has numerous publications in literary magazines..