In 2011, Defne published her first work, a collection of travel writings titled The Blue Forest. In 2015, the novel Borrowed Time is being published, in which she depicts the destruction of cosmopolitan Ottoman Smyrna. The work is also being released in Greece on the same day under the title Scheherazade’s Silence.

In the novel The Breakfast Table, translated into 14 languages, Defne Suman continues to explore the key themes and storylines of her previous novels, presenting them to the reader from a new perspective.

She is a significant voice in contemporary Polish literature and the recipient of numerous literary awards, including the Astrid Lindgren Literary Competition, the “Billy Goat” Award and the “Gulliver in the Land of Giants” Award.

Khaled has authored numerous novels, short story collections, and travelogues, many of which have been translated into various languages, reaching a wide international audience. She won the “Best Arabic Novel” award at the Cairo International Book Fair in 2016 for Gymnasium and again in 2020 for the novel Tamar.

Her latest novel, Blackbird, Blackbird, Blackberry (2021), earned her a second “Saba” Award, Georgia’s most prestigious literary prize. The novel has been adapted for the screen, with its premiere taking place at the Cannes Film Festival (2023). Countdown Rhyme (2010) is Tamta Melashvili’s debut novel; it brought her widespread acclaim both in her native Georgia, winning the “Saba” Award for Best Debut (2011) and abroad, where she received the German National Prize for Young Writers (2013).

Through her role, she has had the opportunity to participate in prominent international book fairs and publishing fellowships. She finds the publishing industry both dynamic and rewarding, and she is committed to pursuing excellence in all aspects of her work, whether in publishing, rights management, or related endeavors. Concurrently, she continues to illustrate books and work on visual projects to further diversify her portfolio.

With a background as a journalist, she holds an MA from the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Bergen, Norway. Grøtan has published a number of books, most recently Før øya synker (Gyldendal, 2018). In 2024–2025, Grøtan published a series of personal essays on trauma, nature, literature, and music in the literary journal Vinduet, and one of them, “Death in Grammar,” also appeared in English translation on The Dial. Grøtan has served on several boards for Norwegian literary organisations, and is presently a board member of Norwegian PEN. She headed the festival and event series Verden i Bergen, was the editor of the literary journal Syn og Segn and the founding editor of the magazine Global Knowledge. Grøtan won the Blix prize for her books aimed at children and young people.

Among the authors he publishes in Norwegian translation are Laszlo Krasznahorkai, Leïla Slimani, Adania Shibli, Jurij Andrukhovych and Elisa Shua Dusapin, to name a few.
Bernhard is also a non-fiction writer, having published two critically acclaimed books about Russia’s relations to the outside world. He leads the International Committee of the Norwegian Non-fiction Writers and Translators Association, where he in 2024 initiated the Scholarship Programme for Ukrainian Writers documenting the war.

He is one of the directors of the independent publishing festival Back to the Book and of the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid-Altamarea Master’s program in Creative Writing.