Maya Abu-Alhayyat Maya Abu-Alhayyat is an award-winning Palestinian novelist, poet and children's writer. Photo: Salim Abu Jabal

Susie Gordon Susie Gordon lives in Shanghai and is a published poet, short-story writer and journalist. Her debut novel is set in Shanghai. Photo: Robert-van-de-Hilst.

Leza Lowitz Leza Lowitz is an award-winning, multi-genre writer and Japanese-English translator whose YA novel Up from the Sea is published by Penguin Random House.

Ko Ko Thett Ko Ko Thett is a PEN Award-winning poet and translator whose debut poetry collection, The Burden of Being Burmese was published in 2015 by Zephyr Press. Photo by Yee Yee Htun

Joseph Woods Joseph Woods is an award-winning poet, journalist and editor and former Director of Poetry Ireland. He is currently writing a biography of a figure seminal to Burmese modern history.