Kateryna Babkina (born in 1985) is a poet, fiction writer, journalist, playwright, scriptwriter, and video poetry creator. She is the author of four poetry collections (St. Elmo’s Fire, 2002, The Mustard, 2011, Painkillers and Sleeping Pills, 2014, Charmed for Love, 2017), one novel (Sonia, 2013), and two collections of short stories (Leloo After You, 2008, and Happy Naked People, 2016). She has also written two children’s books. Her works have been translated into English, Swedish, Polish, German, French, Spanish, Romanian, Czech, Hebrew, and Russian and published in The Kenyon Review, Esquire Ukraine, Le Monde, Harper’s Bazaar, and various other anthologies and journals. Her books have been shortlisted for the BBC Ukrainian Book of the Year Award twice.

Oleksandr Boichenko is a literary critic, publicist, essayist and translator. From 1995 to 2008 he taught foreign literature and literary theory at Chernivtsi University. Between 2002 and 2010, together with the writer Yuri Andrukhovych, Mr. Boichenko co-edited an online journal Potiah76. He has received the Gaude Polonia scholarship from Poland’s Ministry of Culture three times. In 2003, his book Shchos’ na kshtalt shatokua (A Sort of Chautauqua, 2003), was awarded the top prize in the creative essay category by the Knyha Roku (Book of the Year) competition. In 2015, Boichenko was awarded the Shevelev Modern Essay Prize for his book Bil'she/Menshe (More or Less). He is also the author of the books Shatokua plius (Chautauqua Plus, 2005), Aby knyzhka (To Have a Book, 2011), Moi sered chuzhykh (Mine Among Strangers, 2012), and 50 vidsotkiv ratsii (50 Percent Correct, 2016). His published translations from Polish into Ukrainian include a collection of stories by Tadeusz Borowsky entitled U nas, v Aushvitsi (At Our Place, in Auschwitz), an autobiographical novel by Marek Hlasko Krasyvi dvadtsiatylitni (Beautiful Twentysomethings), Daniel Odija’s novel Tartak (The Sawmill), several plays by Michał Walczak, Małgoryata Sikorska-Miszczuk, Paweł Demirski and Michał Zadara as well as short prose works by Józef Hen, Andrzej Stasiuk, and Olga Tokarczuk, among others. His translation from Russian into Ukrainian include Victor Erofeyev’s novel Khoroshyi Stalin (The Good Stalin) and Igor Pomerantsev’s story Basks’kyi sobaka (The Basque Dog).

Maxym Dupeshko was born on December 31, 1984 in Chernivtsi, Ukraine. He is a writer, filmmaker and musician. He received a degree in Philology from Chernivtsi National University. His debut novel The History of the Whole Apple Orchard was published in 2017 and recognized by the Gareth Jones and Anton Kokhanovskyi literary prizes. In addition, Maxym is the author of several short stories and poetry. His short film A Few Questions for You was released in 2016. He has participated repeatedly in various literary festivals, including such prestigious ones as the "Meridian Czernowitz", the Literary Festival of the Lviv Publishers Forum, "Triangle", "Obnova-Fest", and "Art Effect". His second novel is currently in-progress. 

Oksana Lutsyshyna is a writer, translator, and Lecturer in Ukrainian Studies at the University of Texas in Austin, where she teaches Ukrainian language and Eastern European literatures. She holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the University of Georgia. She translates alone or in collaboration with Olena Jennings, Kevin Vaughn, or Daniel Belgrad. Her translations of poems and essays by Vasyl Makhno, Marianna Kiyanovska, Bohdana Matiyash and other Ukrainian authors appeared in Postroad Magazine, The Wolf, Ukrainian Literature: a Journal of Translation, St. Petersburg Review, and other venues. Her original work includes two novels, a collection of short stories, and three collections of poetry, all published in Ukraine. Her most recent novel has been long-listed for the Ukrainian BBC award. Oksana’s new collection of poetry is forthcoming this year in Ukraine.

Andriy Lyubka was born on December 3rd, 1987 in Riga, Latvia. He grew up in Vynohradiv, in Western Ukraine and then enrolled at the Uzhhorod National University, where he studied Ukrainian Philology. He received a master’s degree in Balkan Studies from Warsaw University in 2014. Lyubka has received numerous literary prizes and participated in writing fellowships, including the International Writers House in Pecs (Pecs, Hungary, 2016), the Pontica Magna Programme at New Europe College (Bucharest, Romania, 2016), the Baltic Centre for Writers and Translators Residence (Gotland, Sweden, 2015), International Writers House Graz Residence (Graz, Austria, 2012), the Gaude Polonia Residence Programme for Young Foreign Artists (Warsaw, Poland, 2010, 2012), the International Writers' and Translators' House “Ventspilshouse” Residence (Ventspils, Latvia, 2010), and the Willa Decijusza Foundation Residence (Krakow, Poland, 2009). He recently received the CEI Fellowship for Writers in Residence and will spend three months continuing his study of Eastern Europe in Vilenica, Slovenia. In 2017, his novel Carbide was shortlisted for the prestigious Angelus Central European Award. Earlier in his career, he was awarded the Debut (2007) and Kyiv Laurels (2011) literary prizes. He is the author of numerous works, including three poetry collections (Eight Months of Schizophrenia (2007), Terrorism (2008), Forty Bucks Plus Tip (2012)) and four prose books (Killer: A Collection of Short Stories (2012), Sleeping with Women (2014), Carbide (2015), A Room for Sorrow (2016)).

Tanja Maljartschuk (born in 1983) is a writer and journalist from Western Ukraine, who currently lives in Vienna. She is the author of two novels, five collections of prose and, most recently, a young adult novel. Maljartschuk’s work has been supported by fellowships from the Arts and Culture Division of the Chancellery of Austria, the Academy of the Arts of Berlin, the Polish Ministry of Culture’s Gaude Polonia Program, KulturKontakt Austria and the Villa Decius Association of Poland. She is a past recipient of the Joseph Conrad Korzienowski Literary Prize (Poland-Ukraine) and the Kirstal Vilencia Literary Award (Slovenia). In 2016, her most recent novel Forgottenness won the BBC Book of the Year Award, the most prestigious literary award in present-day Ukraine. Maljartschuk’s works have been translated into ten languages and are widely available in German translation. Individual stories have appeared in English translation in the anthologies Best European Fiction, Herstories and Women in Times of Change, as well as in literary magazines such as World Literature Today, Words Without Borders, Belletrista, Stand and Hayden’s Ferry Review. Maljartschuk’s first book-length translation into English, her novel A Biography of a Chance Miracle, which was a finalist for the 2012 BBC Book of the Year Award, is forthcoming in 2018 through Cadmus Press. An English translation of Forgottenness is also in progress.

Andriy Tuzhykov was born on December 15, 1992 in Chernivtsi, Ukraine. He received a Master’s degree in theoretical physics from Chernivtsi National University and a Bachelor’s degree in software and program engineering. He is the recipient of the “Smoloskyp” Publishing Gouse and the “Granosov” international literature contest awards, and was the finalist of the national literature project “The Young Republic of Poets”. He is the author of the teenage novella “Another Brick in The Wall” (2016) and the poetry collection “Anxiety Poppies” (2016). He is a curator of the “Laboratory of Culture” and also a team-member of the International Literature Corporation MERIDIAN CZERNOWITZ. Among his other activities are the participation in urban research, contemporary art and literature, and Python programming. Currently, Andriy is preparing for publication his new non-fiction book about computer technologies and gadgets.

 Khrystia Vengryniuk is a writer, literary historian, and painter. She holds a Ph.D. from Chernivtsi National University. She is the chief-editor at the children’s art-publishing house “Black Sheep” and a teaching artist at the studio “MonmARTr” in Chernivtsi. Khrystia is the author of the novel The Village America (2013) and the family book Chernivtsi Legends by the Black Sheep (2017). She is also the author of several prose collections such as Catharsis (2005), The Naked narCOTIC (2006), the poetry collection God by the Wall (2008) and the dual-language (Ukrainian-Polish, translated by Aneta Kaminska) poetry collection Long Eyes (2013). The Village America entered the long list of the best books of 2013 according to the BBC and also, the short list of the best prose books of 2013-14 according to Petro and Lesya Kovaliv Foundation Literature Contest in 2015. On September 5, 2014, the avant-garde theater “Independent Theatrical Laboratory” (directed by Oleh Melnychuk) presented a premiere performance based on Khrystia’s book Long Eyes in which her poetry was translated into German, Hebrew, Hungarian, Polish, Romanian and Russian languages. Khrystia’s play The Sick Clepsydras entered the short list of the best plays at the “Drama.UA” contest in 2011 and in the same year, was awarded at the “Smoloskyp” Literature Contest. She received the scholarship of the Polish Government Program for young scholars in the field of literary criticism in 2010-2011. She was the winner of the International Poetry Festival in Warsaw in 2013. Her works have been translated into Croatian, English, German, Polish and Russian languages.

Lyuba Yakimchuk is a poet, screenwriter and journalist born in Pervomaisk, Luhansk oblast', Ukraine. She is the author of several full-length poetry collections, including Like FASHION and Donbas Apricots, and the film script for The Slovo Building. She is the laureate of many literary awards, including the International Slavic Poetic Award, the Bohdan-Ihor Antonych Prize and the Smoloskyp Prize, three of Ukraine’s most prestigious awards for young poets. She is the winner of the International Literary Contest "Coronation of the Word". Her poems have been translated into English, Swedish, German, French, Polish, Russian, Hebrew, Slovak, Lithuanian, Bulgarian, Slovenian, Belarusian, Romanian, and Serbian languages, whilst her essays have been translated into English and Swedish. Her poems have appeared in magazines and anthologies of Ukraine, USA, Sweden, Germany, Great Britain, Poland, Israel, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Romania and Belarus. She has performed in a musical and poetic duet with the Ukrainian double-bass player Mark Tokar; their projects include Donbas Apricots and Women, Smoke, and Dangerous Things. Her poetry is also performed by the world-famous singer Mariana Sadovska (Cologne) and improvised by vocalist Olesya Zdorovetska (Dublin). Lyuba also works as a cultural manager. She organized the "Semenko Year" project (2012) dedicated to the Ukrainian futurist Semenko, the cultural project “Underground to Kybyntsi” in the village of Kybyntsi, and was a curator of the literary program Cultural Forum "DonKult" (2015, Lviv) and Cultural Forum “GaliciaKult” (2016, Kharkiv).

Serhiy Zhadan was born on August 23, 1974 in Starobilsk, in the Luhansk Region of Ukraine. He graduated from the Skovoroda National Pedagogical University in Kharkiv and taught Ukrainian literature. Since 2004 he works as a freelance writer. Zhadan is the author of the poetry collections: Quotations (1995), General Judas (1995), Pepsi (1998), Ballads about War and Reconstruction (2001), History of Culture at the Turn of This Century (2003), Maradona (2007), Ethiopia (2009), Fire Arms and Knives (2012), Life of Maria (2015) and Templars (2016). His prose works include: Big Mac (2003), Depeche Mode (2004), Anarchy in the UKR (2005), Hymn of the Democratic Youth (2006), Voroshilovgrad (2010) and Mesopotamia (2014), as well as numerous essays and articles. Zhadan is the recipient of several Ukrainian and international literature prizes. His books have been translated into English, German, French, Italian, Swedish, Norwegian, Polish, Czech, Hungarian, Belarusian, Lithuanian, Latvian and Russian. Since 2007 he has been the front man for Zhadan and the Dogs, a ska-punk based in Kharkiv that has released four full CDs: The Army Sport Club (2008), Weapon of the Proletariat (2012), Fight for Her (2014) and Dogs (2016). He translates from German, Belarusian, Polish and Russian.