Ivan Krastev

is a Bulgarian political scientist, based in Sofia where he chairs the Centre for Liberal Studies. He is the editor-in-chief of the Bulgarian edition of...

Martin M. Šimečka

is a writer and journalist based in Bratislava. Before 1989 he could publish only in samizdat; later he co-founded the Archa Publishing House, and edited the...

Michal Hvorecký

is a writer, blogger, columnist and translator. He lives in Bratislava, where he is head of the Goethe-Institut Library. He has published several novels,...

Slavenka Drakulić

is a Croatian writer and journalist. She graduated in comparative literature and sociology from the University of Zagreb. From 1982 to 1992 she was a staff...

Dubravka Ugrešić

is a Croatian novelist and essayist. Following degrees in Comparative and Russian Literature, Ugrešić worked for many years at the University of Zagreb’s...

Thierry Chervel

is a German journalist with Franco-German roots based in Berlin. After studying music theory, he worked as staff writer for the German daily taz and later as...

Viktor Vladimirovich Erofeyev

is a Russian writer based in Moscow. He was expelled from the Union of Soviet Writers as an organizer of the samizdat literary magazine Metropol and banned...

Václav Bělohradský

is a Czech philosopher and sociologist. Based in Prague, he is widely regarded as the most original of Jan Patočka’s students. After the Soviet invasion...

Péter Esterházy

is regarded as the one of the greatest contemporary Hungarian writers. He lives in Budapest, where studied mathematics and started publishing in literary...

Jacek Żakowski

is an influential Polish journalist and columnist for the weekly Polityka and the daily Gazeta Wyborcza. He chairs the department of journalism at the...

Andrea Bajani

is an Italian writer and journalist based in Turin. His publications include Cordiali saluti (Cordial Waves), Se consideri le colpe (If You Consider the...

Monika Maron

is a German writer. Between 1955 and 1963 her stepfather Karl Maron was the GDR’s Minister of the Interior. She studied theatre and worked as an assistant...

Iveta Radičová

is a sociologist and currently Slovakia’s Prime Minister. A teacher at the Comenius University in Bratislava, she was named full professor following...

Gideon Rachman

has been the chief foreign affairs commentator for the Financial Times since 2006. He began his journalistic career in 1984 at the BBC World Service....

Jeremy Rifkin

is an American economist, environmentalist, political scientist and writer. He chairs the Foundation on Economic Trends. His most influential books include...

Stav Shaffir

is an Israeli journalist and activist. She has focused on channelling the voices of immigrants to Israel from Darfur, Guinea, Eritrea, the Philippines and...

Magdalena Środa

is a Polish philosopher and feminist writer. She is professor of ethics at Warsaw University and regular contributor to the daily Gazeta Wyborcza and the...

Frederik Stjernfelt

is a Danish writer and semiotician. He works at the Center for Semiotics at the University of Aarhus. He has devoted much work to investigating the Balkan...

Nina Witoszek-FitzPatrick

is a Norwegian-Polish-Irish sociologist and writer, considered one of the 10 leading intellectuals in Norway. She is Research Director at the Centre for...