Baruti Kandolo Lilela, better known by his pen name Barly Baruti, is a renowned Congolese cartoonist.  He has been described by the BBC as “the Congolese author best known outside his country.” Baruti is the co-founder of the Atelier de Création et de l’Initiation à l’Art Creative Workshop for an Initiation to Art) to encourage talented youth in Kinshasa, and he is responsible for organizing the first Afro BD show in Kinshasa in the effort to promote African comics.  He currently lives in Kinshasa. In 2023, Barly was named Facilitator of Partnerships and Cultural Relations in Europe by the Congolese Ministry of Culture.

Thierry Bellefroid works for the Belgian television company, RTB.  He has published three novels, a collection of short stories and a digital novel. Amongst many things, he has been a member of numerous comics juries; he has been a member of Groupe d’Experts sur la Bande Dessinée pour la Communauté Française de Belgique since its creation in 2001 and a commissioner for the Commission for Aid to Comics of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation of Belgium until 2015; he coordinated comic strip animations for eight years for the Brussels Book Fair; and has participated in the catalogs of many comics exhibitions. 

Ivanka Hahnenberger has translated over 60 comics and graphic novels, including several highly acclaimed titles such as Climate Changed, Blue is the Warmest Color, Madame Livingstone (a 2021 New York Times Globetrotting title) and Catherine’s War, which won her the Silver 2021 Batchelder Award.  She has lived in Europe since 1983, primarily in France and Germany but with several short stays in other European nations, and presently lives in London.