Roald Dahl (13 September 1916 - 23 November 1990) was a British novelist, short story writer, poet, fighter pilot and screenwriter. Born in Wales to Norwegian parents, he served in the Royal Air Force during World War II, in which he became a flying ace and intelligence officer, rising to the rank of wing commander. Dahl rose to prominence in the 1940s, with works for both children and adults, and became one of the world's best-selling authors. He has been referred to as "one of the greatest storytellers for children of the 20th century".

Peter Härtling (born 13 November 1933) is a German writer and poet. He is a member of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany and he received the Großes Verdienstkreuz for his major contribution to German literature. ¨ Härtling was born at Chemnitz and spent the early part of his childhood living in Hartmannsdorf, Mittweida, where his father maintained a law firm. Following the outbreak of World War II, the family moved to the German-occupied town of Olomouc in Moravia. Härtling had his first collection of poetry published in 1953.

Piero Chiara (March 13, 1913 - December 31, 1986) was an Italian writer. He was born in Luino, on Lake Maggiore (northern Italy) into a family of Sicilian origin. Sought by the Fascist milice during World War II, he fled to Switzerland in 1944. He returned to Italy two years later, starting the activity of writer. His most famous work is La stanza del vescovo of 1976, which was turned into a film by Dino Risi soon afterwards. He died in Varese in 1986.

Dacia Maraini (born November 13, 1936 in Fiesole) is an Italian writer. She is the daughter of Sicilian Princess Topazia Alliata di Salaparuta, an artist and art dealer, and of Fosco Maraini, a Florentine ethnologist and mountaineer of mixed Ticinese, English and Polish background who wrote in particular on Tibet and Japan. Maraini's work focuses on women's issues, and she has written numerous plays and novels. She has won awards for her work, including the Formentor Prize for L'età del malessere (1963).

Italo Calvino (15 October 1923 - 19 September 1985) was an Italian journalist and writer of short stories and novels. His best known works include the Our Ancestors trilogy (1952-1959), the Cosmicomics collection of short stories (1965), and the novels Invisible Cities (1972) and If on a winter's night a traveler (1979). Lionised in Britain and the United States, he was the most-translated contemporary Italian writer at the time of his death, and a noted contender for the Nobel Prize for Literature.