Ernest van der Kwast (Author) made his breakthrough with the novel Mama Tandoori, which became a bestseller in the Netherlands and Italy and sold more than 100,000 copies. In 2012 he published the novella Giovanna's Navel, which entered the Der Spiegel bestseller list immediately after publication in Germany in spring 2015. Laura Vroomen (Translator) was born in the Netherlands and now lives and works in London. She was educated at the University of Amsterdam and Warwick University and spent several years teaching English literature and cultural studies before switching to translation.