Bontle Senne was born in Johannesburg and graduated from UCT. She is an author, executive, coach and speaker. She was shortlisted for the Golden Baobab Prize in 2014. She is chairperson of the board of GirlCode SA, part owner of Modjaji Books and trustee at PUKU, awarded the UNESCO King Sejong Literacy Prize in 2021.

Bontle lives in London. 

Alistair Mackay’s short stories have been published in numerous journals as well as in the anthologies Queer Africa and Queer Africa II, which was a finalist in the 2017 Lambda Literary Awards. He holds an MA in Politics from Edinburgh University and an MFA in Creative Writing from Columbia University. Raised in Joburg, he now lives in Cape Town.

Elrien Scheepers was born in Middelburg (EC) and lives in Pretoria. She is a lecturer in Veterinary Science at the University of Pretoria. Her first poem, “Ek droom oor jou”, appeared in Toulopers, and her short stories were included in the collection Skool is 'n riller. 

Johan Fourie is Professor of Economics at Stellenbosch University. He is a founding member of the African Economic History Network and president of the Economic History Society of Southern Africa. He has published award-winning peer-reviewed articles and is a regular columnist for local newspapers. 

Jen Thorpe is a feminist writer and researcher. Her published fiction work includes The Peculiars (2016) and The Fall (2020). Previous collections include, My First Time (2012), Feminism Is: South Africans Speak Their Truth (2018) and Living While Feminist: Our bodies, our truth (2020). She lives in Cape Town. For more: http://jen-thorpe.com

In an industry obsessed with youthful exuberance, Ivan Johnson was considered a veteran ad man twenty years ago. He still is – albeit now in the more accommodating environment of his own ad agency, 3Verse. Ivan is a multi-award-winning creative director and has represented the industry as juror and president at awards shows all over the world. 

Sally Partridge was named one of the Mail & Guardian’s 200 notable Young South Africans of 2011. She has received the MER Prize for Youth Literature for four of her novels and won a SALA Award for her novel, Mine, in 2019.  She has also been honoured by IBBY International for her young adult fiction. She lives in Cape Town. 

Rudie van Rensburg lives in Cape Town and has published eleven extremely popular crime novels: Slagyster, Kopskoot, Judaskus, Pirana, Kamikaze, Ys, Medusa, Vloek, Merk, Hartedief and Monster, and the top-selling comic novels Hans steek die Rubicon oor, Hans gee Herklaas horings and Hans bars die bioborrel. 

Marita van der Vyver published three novels for adolescents before her first adult novel, Griet skryf ‘n sprokie, became a best-seller, winning the M-Net, Eugène Marais and ATKV Prizes in 1992. Since then she has been a full-time writer of fiction for readers of all ages. She has won several awards and is translated into more than ten languages.

Jaco Fouché has worked as a journalist and a programmer. His tenure in London was the catalyst for his debut novel, Die ryk van die rawe, which was awarded the Eugène Marais Prize, and was a finalist for the M-Net Prize in 1997. He has written seven adult novels, 2 collections of short stories and 2 novels for young adults. Jaco lives in Hermanus. 

Deon Meyer is an internationally acclaimed writer living in Stellenbosch. His publications include twelve novels, inter alia 13 Uur, 2008, Spoor, 2010, 7 Dae, 2011, Kobra, 2013, Ikarus, 2015, Koors, 2016, and  Prooi, 2018. Orion, Proteus and Infanta all received the ATKV Prize for Fiction and Prooi was awarded the ATKV Prize for Suspense Fiction.