Halyna Kruk, special guest from Ukraine.
Halyna Kruk is a poet, translator, and children’s book writer from Lviv. She is an author of five poetry books, the latest – An Adult Women, 2017. She has been published widely in literary journals and won two Ukrainian literary awards. Her poems were translated into more than 20 languages. In 2003 she won the Step by Step international competition for children’s books. Her Marko Travels Around the World and The Littlest One have been translated into 15 languages. She is a vice-president of the Ukrainian PEN and a professor of literary studies at Lviv National University.

Malin Kivelä, Society of Swedish Authors in Finland.
Malin Kivelä (b. 1974) is a Finland-Swedish author born and based in Helsinki. She has published three acclaimed novels as well as books for children and plays. Her works have been translated into Finnish, Danish and Russian. She is looking for ways to describe the unspeakable and face the uncomfortable. She is currently working on her fourth novel which is to be published in 2019.

Henning Brüllhoff, Swedish Writers’ Union.
Henning Brüllhoff (born in 1973) grew up i Huddinge south of Stockholm and has attended several courses in fiction writing, among them two years at Nordens folkhögskola at Biskops-Arnö. He has also been a teacher of fictional writing at Folkuniversitetet in Stockholm. At present he combines his writing with work as a professional communicator at Stockholm university. In 2016 he won Katapultpriset for his debut novel, Allt jag begär.

Veronika Kivisilla, Estonian Writers’ Union.
Veronika Kivisilla is a poet, storyteller and bard. Kivisilla has compiled textbooks and songbooks; organized literary festivals and numerous events. A musician, she has performed in medieval- and folk-music ensembles. Veronika Kivisilla made her debut in 2011 and has so far published three collections of poetry.  Her poetry conveys the image of an author, whose humour takes note of small but important everyday details, and who rejoices in the world around us in a rich, enchanting language. Kivisilla’s 2015 collection “Cantus firmus“ was nominated for the best poetry book by the Estonian Cultural Endowment. She has performed her poetry at various festivals abroad, in Helsinki, Visby, Zagreb, London, Warsaw and also in the lyrikline.org poetry portal.

Sirpa Kähkönen, Finnish Writers‘ Union.
Sirpa Kähkönen is well known about her historical novels. She is above all an exceptional portrayer of women and children, their challenges and experiences, and the life of civilians in a time of crisis. Kähkönen also writes plays and non-ficton. Sirpa Kähkönen has been shortlisted for both Nordic Council Literature Prize and The Finlandia Prize with her novels. Kähkönen is currently the President of The Union of Finnish Writers.

Egīls Venters, Latvian Writers Union.
Latvian prose writer Egīls Venters (1964) will attend the reading, and read a fragment in English of his novel. Egīls Venters is also a member of the Latvian Writers’ Union board. His debut was a collection of short stories „Melnā sērija”/ Black Series (1992), followed by a collection of novellas „Melanholijas skaidrojošā vārdnīca”/ The Dictionary of Melancholia (2000), followed by the novels Āgenskalns (2004), and Radio Luxembourg (2007). Novel “Mainīgā intervence”/ Changing Intervention (2012) was nominated for Latvian Literature Award 2013. It received Dz. Sodums prize for innovations in literature 2013. The latest collection of short stories Poseidona galva/ The Head of Poseidon was published in 2017. There has also been published a collection of essays Zemeslēkts/ Earth-rise (2010).

Antanas A. Jonynas, Lithuanian Writers Union.
Antanas A. Jonynas is a poet and translator who was born in Vilnius in 1953. He graduated Vilnius University with a degree in Lithuanian language and literature. He worked for almost twenty years as an editor for the publisher Vaga, then two years as a moderator for a TV show on culture. From 2011-2018, Jonynas headed the Lithuanian Writers Union. He is a member of Lithuanian PEN. Jonynas has published seventeen poetry books and has won numerous prizes, including the prestigious Lithuanian National Prize for Culture and Art. He has translated poetry, prose, and drama from German, Russian, Latvian and Ukrainian; among his translations is Goethe’s Faust. His own poetry has been translated into twenty languages, more or less, with books published in English, German, Russian, French and Bambaran. He lives as a writer in Vilnius.

Marius Burokas, Lithuanian Writers Union. 
Marius Burokas (b. 1977) is a poet, freelance writer, translator and editor-in-chief of online magazine of Lithuanian literature “Vilnius Review”. He is the author of three poetry books (the most recent I‘ve Learned Not To Be (Išmokau nebūti) was published in 2011). His fourth poetry book “of clean being” (švaraus buvimo) is forthcoming in 2018. His selected poetry book in English “Now I Understand” was published by “Parthian Books” in 2018. His poetry has been translated into Polish, Russian, Slovenian, English, German, French, Ukrainian and other languages. Marius Burokas translated poetry of American, Canadian, Australian poets and others (Charles Simic, Walter S. Merwin, William Carlos Williams, Charles Bukowski, Ted Hughes, Alan Ginsberg, etc.).

Kazimiera Astratovienė, The Lithuanian Association of Literary Translators.
Kazimiera Astratovienė (b. 1981) is a literary translator, writer from Vilnius. She graduated Vilnius University with a degree in Lithuanian language and literature. She is a member of The Lithuanian Association of literary translators, as a Board member of the Association in 2012–2016 she coordinated many of its cultural and literary projects. She published her poetry, interviews with literary translators and articles about translation in literary magazines. Her first novel „Seven generations“ (Septynios kartos) was published in 2016 and won a literary award for the best fiction book of a young writer. She is a Chair of Baltic Writers Council since 2015.