Peter Härtling, who was born in 1933 in Chemnitz, grew up in Saxony, Moravia, Austria and Württemberg in Germany. In an attempt to escape capture by the Nazis, the family fled towards the West at the end of World War II with many intermediate stops along the way. However, his
Paula Varjack has a Ghanaian mother and a British father. She grew up in Washington D.C. and London. The spoken word poet has toured internationally since 2007, and was nominated »Best international Performance Poet« at the Farrago London Slam Awards. Paula Varjack is an independent writer and lives in London
Paul Harding was born near Boston in 1967. He grew up in the small town of Wenham, Massachusetts, and became an apprentice to his grandfather, a watchmaker. After high school he attended the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, where he was one of the founders of the independent rock band
Patrick Bahners born in Paderborn in 1967, he studied history and philosophy in Bonn and Oxford. The journalist and author became an editor for the feuilleton of the German daily »FAZ« in 1989, and its head in 2001. He was a lecturer at the universities of Bonn and Frankfurt/Main, and
Patrick Chamoiseau was born in Fort-de France on the Antillean island of Martinique in 1953. After his studies in law in Paris and his master’s degree in social economics he worked as an educator in rehabilitation projects for children in detention, first in France, later in Martinique. Inspired by his
Pankaj Mishra was born in the northern Indian town of Jhansi in 1969. After studying commerce at the University of Allahabad, he graduated with a Master of Arts degree in English Literature from Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi. He began to write reviews for newspapers such as »The Indian
Paolo Piccirillo born in 1987 at Santa Maria Capua Vetere in the province of Caserta. After secondary school he moved to Florence and later to Rome to study screenwriting. He was picked for Rai TV’s specialization course for scriptwriters (»XIII corso di perfezionamento per sceneggiatori Script/Rai«). At the same time,
Oskar Hanska has been a spoken word poet in the Swedish slam scene since 2005. He performs at festivals, on the radio, in the theatre and for political events. His project »The Third Room« combines spoken word poetry, music and street dance in a Gesamtkunstwerk. Oskar Hanska is an independent
Omair Ahmad was born in Aligarh in 1974. Although literature was an important part of his family life, like many children from developing countries, his training was primarily in sciences. His father was a petroleum engineer and this led the family across India and then later to Saudi Arabia, where
Omar Akbar Omar Akbar has been one of the most influential hosts of the “Reflections” programme of the international literature festival berlin since 2007. He has focused on the literary exploration of big cities and metropolises, and their specific urban character. In his series Urban Worlds – World Cities he
Olga Galicka born in Riga in 1990, has lived in Frankfurt since 1999, studied Economics and Media Studies at Goethe University. Multiple winner of the Young Authors’ Meeting in Berlin and Fellow of the Lower Saxony Foundation in 2008, wrote a blog for the »Students play Sturm und Drang« theatre
