On his blog (www.dehoningpot.blogspot.com), Marc Kregting, born in Breda in 1965, introduces himself as follows: ‘Marc Kregting was born, had to go to school at a certain point and that’s how it went on.’ He doesn’t add that he studied Dutch language and literature or worked in domiciliary care. His ‘and that’s how it went on’, emphasises that family and education are moulds which give everyone predictable identities.

Nyk de Vries is a writer and musician. He was born in Noardburgum in Friesland and read history at Groningen University. At present he lives and works in Amsterdam. Since 2000, he has written two novels, Rozijnkonijn and Prospero, and a collection of ultra-short, absurdist prose poems, Motorman & 39 andere prozagedichten. All of his fiction has been published in both Frisian and Dutch.

That Tomas Lieske was a late-bloomer might easily be overlooked when considering his creative output – a large number of poetry collections, stories and novels. And yet when his poetry was first published in the magazine Tirade, for which he also wrote as a poetry columnist, he was already thirty-eight.