Bragi Ólafsson is the author of several books of poetry and short stories, along with six novels, including The Pets (a finalist for the Icelandic Literature Prize) and The Ambassador (finalist for the Nordic Council Literature Prize and recipient of the Icelandic Bookseller's Award as the best novel of the year), both of which are available from Open Letter Books. Bragi is one of the founders of the publishing company Smekkleysa (Bad Taste), and translated Paul Auster's City of Glass into Icelandic. He is also a former bass player with The Sugarcubes, the internationally successful pop group that featured Björk as the lead vocalist.

Lytton Smith is a poet, professor, and translator from the Icelandic. His most recent translations include works by Kristin Ómarsdóttir, Jón Gnarr, Ófeigur Sigurðsson, and Guðbergur Bergsson. His most recent poetry collection, The All-Purpose Magical Tent, was published by Nightboat. Having earned his MFA and PhD from Columbia University, he currently teaches at SUNY Geneseo.