Ondjaki was born in Luanda, Angola in 1977. His novels, short stories, poetry, and children's books have received numerous prizes. He received the José Saramago Prize and Littérature-Monde Prize for his novel Transparent City, which was translated into seven languages and included in best-book roundups by Vanity Fair, Vulture, Lit Hub, Globe and Mail, World Literature Today, and more.

António Jorge Gonçalves is a Portuguese creator of graphic novels and picture books. A long-time political cartoonist for the Portuguese newspaper Público, he has also published in Courrier International and Le Monde. He created a live digital drawing technique with which he has performed onstage with musicians, actors, and dancers worldwide. He received Portugal's National Illustration Prize for Our Beautiful Darkness.

Lyn Miller-Lachmann translates children's books from Portuguese to English, including award-winning picture book The World in a Second and YA graphic novel Pardalita. She is the author of Torch, winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for YA Literature, and co-author (with Zetta Elliott) of the middle grade verse novel Moonwalking.