Work of IWP writers likely to reflect U.S. tragedies, yet program, activities continue throughout year

“The writers are as shocked as any American, and they are trying to understand these extraordinary events just as we are,” Christopher Merrill, director of the IWP, observes. “What will make this residency different from all others is that they are getting a rare glimpse into the soul of America at one of its darkest hours. We do not yet know what their literary response will be, but because this is an unusually talented group of writers, alert to every possible political nuance, we may imagine that this national tragedy will find original expression in their work.”

And yet, while this unexpected digestion of immediate tragedy is occurring, the normal flurry of IWP public activities continues apace, and members of the UI community have many opportunities to meet the writers and benefit from their talents.

The centerpiece of the fall schedule will be Lost and Found: The Art of Translation, the second annual International Writing Program Festival, Oct. 12 to 14 in the Iowa Memorial Union.

Paul Engle

The free conference is organized around Iowa’s annual Paul Engle Day celebration, which honors the memory of the IWP’s co-founder, and will include public readings, lectures, and panel discussions by illustrious translators from around the world.

British translator Daniel Weissbort, director emeritus of the UI Translation Program and author of The Poetry of Survival: Post-War Poets of Central and Eastern Europe, describes the conference as “the most significant gathering of translators that has occurred on either side of the Atlantic in two decades.”

One of the participants will be Pulitzer Prize-winning poet W.S. Merwin, who will also present the annual Paul Engle Memorial Reading at 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 12, in Shambaugh Auditorium of the Main Library.

The Lost and Found: The Art of Translation festival is a joint production of the IWP; UI International Programs; the UI Office of the Vice President for Research; the Iowa Writers’ Workshop; the UI Departments of Comparative Literature, English, Russian, and Spanish and Portuguese; the UI Press; the Iowa Review, and the UI Center for the Book, with support from a grant by Humanities Iowa, an agency of the State of Iowa.

For more information or to register, contact Susan Benner at susan-benner@uiowa.edu, (515) 233-1664, or write to the International Writing Program, 469 EPB.

A conference web site, including a detailed schedule of events, is evolving at www.uiowa.edu/~iwp/AOTintro.html.

Paul Engle Day was established in 2000 through a proclamation by Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack. A native of Cedar Rapids, Engle graduated from the University of Iowa as the first poet anywhere to obtain an advanced degree on the basis of a collection of poems. He returned to Iowa to lead the Writers’ Workshop to prominence, and in 1967 he and Hualing Nieh Engle founded the IWP. In 1976 the Engles were nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

This year’s IWP writers have been financed by the U.S. State Department, through bilateral agreements with numerous countries; by grants given by cultural institutions and governments abroad; and by private funds that are donated by a variety of American corporations, foundations, and individuals.

Other fall activities include joint readings with the Writers’ Workshop, each Sunday at 5 p.m. in Prairie Lights bookstore through Nov. 5. Remaining panel discussions will be held at 3:30 p.m. Sept. 26 and Oct. 3 and 10 in the Iowa City Public Library, and Oct. 17 in 101 Biology Building East.

New Zealand’s Vince Ford will read at Prairie Lights at 2 p.m. Oct. 6; Korean poet Man-sik Lee will speak on being a “Peaceful poet in the middle of the South and North Korea conflict,” at noon, Oct. 15 in the International Center Lounge; Flying Café Europa will present an evening of readings, films, and discussion at 8 p.m. Oct. 18 in the Museum of Art; England’s Ben Rice and Ireland’s Antonia Logue will share a Prairie Lights reading at 8 p.m. Oct. 20; three noon brown-bag lunches, Sept. 25, Oct. 2, and Oct. 9, will be held at the Iowa City Public Library; “Global Express,” an event featuring the work of IWP playwrights, in being planned for Oct. 21, and additional public events are certain to be added.

The IWP is also on the verge of launching a new on-line literary journal, which will be linked to the program’s homepage, www.uiowa.edu/~iwp as well as the ArtsIowa site at www.uiowa.edu/artsiowa, which will be regularly updated as IWP events evolve.

Article by Winston Barclay