Karsten Kammholz was born in New Delhi in 1979. He spent his childhood in the Indian capital and later on Germany’s Baltic Sea coast in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein. He then went on to study Journalism and English Language and Literature in Kiel, Leipzig and London. Karsten gained his early experience as journalist working for the publishers Evangelischer Presseverband Nord and Schleswig-Holsteinischer Zeitungsverlag, the newspapers BILD and WELT and the TV channel ZDF. He also wrote for the news agency epd. In March 2006 Karsten joined the “Crew 20” at the Axel Springer Journalism Academy and gained further on-the-job experience working for the newspapers DIE WELT and the Berliner Morgenpost. He completed his training in October 2007. Until end of 2008 he joined the editorial staff of Welt-Gruppe and the Berliner Morgenpost within the report department before moving on to the Hamburger Abendblatt in January 2009. Since 2010 he is executive editor in the department politics as well as director of the capital office of the Hamburger Abendblatt in Berlin.
Karsten Kammholz has received the renowned journalist prize Axel Springer in 2007.

  Karsten´s blind date: Oliver Karius

Line-Maria Lång, the daughter of Danish-Swedish parents, was born in Copenhagen in 1982. She has been working on the Danish Radio as part of the young talent programme, was involved in underground theatre, music and film projects and worked as a volunteer journalist for the Anorexia Foundation.
Her debut story collection “Rat King” (Rottekonge) appeared in 2009 in the distinguished Danish publishing house, Rosinante. English translations of her debut appeared in American literary journals as i.e.The Southern Review and The Literary Review.
Her photograph appeared on the cover of the anthology “The Girl with Red Hair”, in which 20 writers were invited to contribute work inspired by that photograph. In 2010 Line-Maria participated in the Danish-American Writers' Retreat in Hald Hovedgaard and went to Paris for a research and writing retreat. In the same year she received a writing grant from the Danish National Art Foundation. In 2011 she gave a reading at the American Association of Writers & Writing Programs in Washington, D.C. as part of the launch of “The Girl with The Red Hair.”

http://linemaria.dk/english/the-reviewers-said/

  Line-Maria´s blind date: Miguel Alves Martins

Tanya Malyarchuk was born 1983 in Ivano Frankovsk, Ukraine. She studied Philology at the Stefanyk University and worked as television journalist in Kiev. Since 2004 she has published various novels and short stories: “Adolfo's Endspiel, or A Rose for Liza” (2004), “From Top to Bottom: A Book of Fears” (2006), “How I Became a Saint” (2006), “To Speak” (2007), “Zviroslov” (2009). Her story collection “Neunprozentiger Haushaltsessing” had been published in March 2009 in Germany. Tanya currently lives and works in Vienna.

  Tanya´s blind date: Züli Aladag

Witold Szablowski, born 1980, studied Political Science in Warsaw and Istanbul. He worked as a freelance journalist for Polish media in Turkey and as a reporter for the news station TVN 24. Since 2006 he has been a staff member of the Gazeta Wyborcza, writing for the paper’s Duzy Format magazine.

Witold won the Polish radio prize Melchior, the Amnesty International Award in 2008 and the European Union’s For Diversity.Against Discrimination prize. Last year he received the prize for journalism by the European Parliament.

Witold´s book "Assassin from Apricot City. Reportages from Turkey" was published last year and is now nominated for NIKE, a prestigious literary award in Poland. It is being translated into 4 languages.

His next book will be about a project which he his doing together with his wife: They will go back and live like the people during the communist Poland with all the clothes, food and equipment of that time. For 6 months they will live and behave like there would be no capitalism, no internet, no mobile phones and no European Union in Poland.

  Witold´s blind date: Irakli Absandze