Claire Beynon is an artist, writer and interdisciplinary researcher. She works collaboratively on a diverse range of projects with fellow artists, writers, scientists and musicians in New Zealand and abroad. Her second poetry collection is in the making. Claire curates MANY as ONE, an Arts and Peace Initiative whose purpose is to facilitate on- and off-line networks of creative exchange. In 2010 she and Mary McCallum (Mākaro Press) founded Tuesday Poem, an international poetry collective. clairebeynon.com

Rajorshi Chakraborti has published five novels and a collection of short fiction. He was born in Calcutta, India, and now lives with his family in Wellington. His most recent novel The Man Who Would Not See was published by Penguin Random House last year, and was longlisted for the 2019 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards. His new novel, Shakti, a supernatural mystery thriller set in present-day India, will appear with Penguin Random House in early 2020. rajorshichakraborti.com

 Adrienne Jansen writes fiction, non-fiction and poetry. She has lived and worked among immigrants in New Zealand for many years, and her writing draws strongly on that experience. She has written five novels and three collections of poetry, and in 2019 she co-edited More of Us, poems by 46 migrants and refugees to New Zealand Several non-fiction works include The Crescent Moon: The Asian Face of Islam in New Zealand with photography by Ans Westra, and more recently she co-authored Migrant Journeys: New Zealand taxi drivers tell their stories. She lives in Titahi Bay, north of Wellington, with her family. adriennejansen.co.nz

Dione Joseph is the founder of Black Creatives Aotearoa and co-founder of JK Productions: He Kōrero Ngā Tahi (Telling Our Stories Together). She is committed to creating, sharing and manifesting opportunities for diverse artists, as director and dramaturge in theatre for the last decade across New Zealand, Australia and the US. She has also been active as a stage critic for both theatre and dance and her reviews can be found in the New Zealand Herald, DANZ Magazine and Radio NZ. She has been a Guest Scholar at the University of Saskatchewan, University of Regina and University of Toronto, and Research Assistant at Royal Holloway, University of London. Recent works with co-founder of JK Productions Jimmy James Kouratoras include Pūtahi Wairua: Where Angels and Ancestors Collide (Queenstown) and Infinite Possibilities, a charity event for cerebral palsy (Auckland). blackcreativesaotearoa.com

Renee Liang is passionate about stories. She collaborates on visual arts works, film and music, and runs community events such as The Kitchen, bringing neighbours together to share food and stories. Renee has written, produced and toured seven plays and published eight anthologies of migrant women’s writing. She has written libretto for an opera, lyrics for a musical and the story for an interactive computer game. In 2018 she became a Member of the NZ Order of Merit for services to the Arts. Playmarket