Dora Cechova was born in 1971 on a train between Moscow and Prague. She studied text and screenplay writing at the Jaroslav Jezek Conservatory in Prague. Today, she teaches at an art school. She published two collections of stories, "Nechtel jsem být Leninem" (I Didn't Want to Become Lenin, 2012) and "Padaná letní jablka" (Fallen Summer Apples, 2015), as well as a work featuring conversations with the sculptor Olbram Zoubek, "Zivot a sochy Olbrama Zoubka" (Life and Sculptures of Olbram Zoubek, 2014).

Kathrin Janka was born in Freiburg im Breisgau and studied Slavic Studies (Russian, Czech), Eastern European History, German Studies, and General Comparative Literature at FU Berlin, Charles University in Prague, and in Potsdam. In 2009, she received a teaching position in Bohemistics at HU Berlin. Since 2015, she has been active in the Junge Weltlesebühne Berlin (translators reading for students) and in refugee work. She teaches Czech and creative writing.