Sven Lindqvist, born in 1932 in Stockholm, writer, essayist, literary scholar, Doctor of the History of Literature at the University of Stockholm and Honorary Doctor at the University of Uppsala. He has received an honorary professorship from the Swedish government. In the early 1960s, Sven Linqvist went to China for two years, where he initially studied the Chinese language at Beijing University and later served as a cultural attaché for the Swedish Embassy. Since then, he has devoted himself to writing and has undertaken many trips to Asia, Africa and Latin America. Sven Lindqvist writes literary essayistic texts and reports on his experiences as a globe-travelling European. He reflects upon the histories of these regions, their ambivalent painful connection with Europe and their colonial structures, e.g. in "Exterminate all the Brutes" (1996) and "A History of Bombing" (2001). Sven Lindqvist has published more than thirty books in Swedish, including essays, autobiographical and documentary prose, travel literature and reports, some of which have been translated into other languages. He has received many international awards, including the Prize of the Swedish Academy for his literary oeuvre (2000).

Paul Gilroy, British sociologist and cultural theorist. Since 1999, Paul Gilroy, British sociologist and cultural analyst, has been Professor of Sociology and African American Studies at Yale University. He was previously Professor of Sociology and Cultural Studies at Goldsmiths' College at the University of London. Paul Gilroy is the chief conceptual adviser to the Black Atlantic projects at the House of World Cultures.
His book The Black Atlantic, Modernity and Double Consciousness, which appeared in 1993, made him one of the most important voices calling for a change in paradigms - between modernity and trans-nationalism - within European thought. His works, which include There ain't no Black in the Union Jack (1987), Small Acts: Thoughts on the Politics of Black Cultures (1993), Between camps: nations, cultures and the allure of race (2000), are pioneering attempts to reassess the role played by Black cultures within the context of European cultural policy and practice. His publications have contributed towards the emergence of a Black arts scene in Great Britain. Paul Gilroy is an established music expert and critic. He is currently working on Real Time, a story of black music in the second half of the twentieth century. His latest book After Empire: Multiculture or Postcolonial Melancholia will be published this summer. His works have been translated into ten languages.