Michaela Wiebusch and Rita Erz became friends and colleagues through their therapeutical work. For years they have been learning and teaching about personality development and self development. Rita Erz is a European Business Coach working with the senior management of well-known companies. Michaela Wiebusch started out as an actress (Es ist zu deinem Besten, Beck is back, Soko Wismar) but also works in bodywork therapy and as a psychological counsellor. In the secret village of the butterflies is their first book together and it will be published in spring 2022 by dtv.

Igal Avidan was born in Tel Aviv in 1962. After studying English Literature and Computer Science in Israel, he moved to Germany to study Political Science in Berlin. Since 1990 he is a well known expert of the Middle East, working for German radio and newspapers. In 2017, his book Mod Helmy. Wie ein arabischer Arzt in Berlin Juden vor der Gestapo rettete (Mod Helmy. How an Arab doctor saved German Jews from the Gestapo in Berlin) was published. The demand for readings continues to this day. 

Janine Adomeit was born in Cologne in 1983. Sie studied literature and linguistics and has published regularly since 2008 (poetin, Bella triste, Sprache im technischen Zeitalter among others). She participated in the LCB’s authors class and the writing class of the Jürgen Ponto foundation and was also awarded the Leonhard-und-Ida Wolff-Gedächtnispreis by the city of Munich. She lives in Flensburg, where she works as copywriter and author .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christian Alt studied German literature as well as philosophy at the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz. Since 2010 he has written for different media on pop and cyber culture. Now he works for Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR), mostly for the scene magazine “Zündfunk”, where he has remained true to his areas of interest. He is a columnist at “PULS”, the young program of BR, and a writer for different ARD-broadcasters. For BR he also develops podcasts, among others the story telling podcast “Einfach machen”, which he also presented.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Magda Albrecht was born in 1986 and grew up in Berlin. In 2013 she graduated in American studies and has since worked as a political spokeswoman and as a journalist. She regularly contributes to the blog “Mädchenmannschaft”, carries out research and give talks on body ideals and assumptions on health and fatness, which she questions. She sums up her activism in a short credo: My fat is political.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hamed Abdel-Samad was born in Cairo in 1972 He studied Languages and Political Science in Egypt and Germany. He worked for the UNESCO, was a scholar at Erfurt University's department  for Arabic Studies, and later taught at the Institute for Jewish History and Culture at Munich University. Until 2020 he was a member of the German Islam Conference. His books keep causing a furore and make it on the bestseller list. The German public TV channel ZDF once described his work as follows: "He is living what he is asking of his fellow citizens, enlightment by breaking taboos." In 2013, fanatics issued a fatwa on his life. Since then Abdel-Samad lives under 24/7 police protection.