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(Biographies 2005)
(Biographies 2006)
List of IWP participants 1967-2005
Current Participants | Special Visitors | 40th Anniversary Guests |
2007 IWP Participants
(check for frequent updates) |
(Please note that all bibliographies are selected.) |
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Hana ANDRONIKOVA (novelist, fiction writer; Czech Republic) is a widely-published Czech prose writer. She received the Magnesia Litera Award in 2002 for her first novel, Zvuk slunecnich hodin (‘The Sound of the Sundial, 2001’) and went on to author a collection of short stories, Srdce na udici (‘Heart on a Hook,’ 2002). Her fiction has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies in Europe and the U.S., including World Literature Today. Currently, she works as an independent consultant in Prague. She participates courtesy of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State. Bibliography | Andronikova writing sample
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Elena BOSSI (poet, essayist, literary critic, editor; Argentina) has authored one collection of poetry, Jirones (‘Rags,’ 1990), and several volumes of literary criticism, most recently Seres Mágicos que habitan en la Argentina (‘Magical Beings of Argentina,’ 2007). Her work has been published in numerous magazines and journals. She has received fellowships from the University of Urbino (Italy) and the National Endowment for the Arts Secretariat of Culture in Argentina. She participates courtesy of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State
Bibliography | Bossi writing sample
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Chris CHRYSSOPOULOS (novelist, essayist, translator; Greece) is among the most prolific young prose writers on the Greek literary scene. He has authored four novels, most recently ‘Imaginary Museum,’ 2005; a volume of essays (‘The Language Box,’ 2006), a collection of short stories (‘Napolean Delastos’ Recipes,’ 1997), a novella (‘The Parthenon Bomber,’ 1996), and, with Diane Neumaier, an exhibition catalogue (Encounters, 2003) and an artist book (The black dress, 2002). His work is available in five languages and he has been awarded grants in Europe and the US. His website is
http://www.chrissopoulos-vivlia.blogspot.com/. He participates courtesy of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State. Bibliography | Chryssopoulos writing sample
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Nirwan DEWANTO (essayist, poet, editor; Indonesia) is widely published in Indonesian journals, magazines, anthologies and newspapers. A founder of the cultural journal Kalam, he has a collection of essays Sanjakala Kebudayaan ('Twilight of Culture') and a volume of poems, Buku Cacing ('Book of Worms'); the poetry collection Perenang Buta ('Blind Swimmer') is forthcoming. He has founded the arts space Komunitas Utan Kayu in Jakarta, and curates literary arts festivals, most recently the 4th Utan Kayu International Literary Biennale. He participates courtesy of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State. Bibliography | Dewanto writing sample
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Tom DREYER (novelist, fiction writer, poet; South Africa) has authored three novels, most recently Equatoria (2006) and one collection of short stories, Polaroid (2007). Born in Cape Town, he publishes in English and Afrikaans. Among his awards is the 2001 Eugène Marais Prize from the South African Academy for Arts and Science for his second novel Stinkafrikaners (2000). His poems and prose have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies in South Africa. Currently, he is at work on his fourth novel, tentatively titled Benguela. He participates courtesy of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State. Bibliography | Dreyer writing sample
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Hamdy EL GAZZAR (novelist, fiction writer, playwright; Egypt) is widely-published prose writer and playwright in the Arab world. He has written and directed several plays and written documentary films for Egyptian TV. His debut novel, Black Magic (2005), was awarded the Sawiris Foundation Prize in Egyptian Literature in 2006. An English translation of the novel is forthcoming in 2007 from AUC Press. Currently, he directs the Research Department of Egypt’s Culture TV Channel. He participates courtesy of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State. Bibliography | El Gazzar writing sample
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Alex EPSTEIN (fiction writer; Israel) was born in Leningrad (USSR) and has been living in Israel since the age of 8. Widely translated, Epstein is the author of three collections of short stories, most recently Blue Has No South (2005) and three novels, most recently Dream Recipes (2002). Among his awards is the Prime Minister's Prize for Literature (2003). He writes literary reviews for several newspapers and teaches creative writing in Tel Aviv. His website is http://www.notes.co.il/epstein/. He participates courtesy of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State. Bibliography | Epstein writing sample
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István László GEHER (pen name: László G. István; poet, translator; Hungary) holds degrees in Hungarian and English Literature from L. Eötvös University in Budapest. He has authored five books of poetry, most recently I Lay Me Down Thy Soul to Keep (2006). His translations of Larkin, Dickinson, Shakespeare, Hughes, and Yeats have appeared widely in journals and anthologies. His awards include a fellowship to the International Writers’ House in Rhodes, an NKA Literary Grant, and the Radnóti Award for Poetry. Géher participates courtesy of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State. Bibliography | Geher writing sample
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Malim GHOZALI PK (poet, novelist, fiction writer, non-fiction writer; Malaysia)
works in a variety of literary genres. Among his best-known works are the novels Redang (1988) and Janji Paramaribo (1990), the short story collection Usia (2006), and the poetry volumes Gemaruang (1987) and Fantasi Malam (2007). He is currently at work on a new novel, Daun [‘The Leaf’]. His awards include an ESSO-GAPENA Literary Prize, a Public Bank Literary Award, the Berita Publications Literary Prize, and two Malaysian Literary Prizes. He participates courtesy of the Literary Bureau of Malaysia. Bibliography | Ghozali writing sample
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Ksenia GOLUBOVICH (novelist, fiction writer, literary critic, editor, translator; Russia) has published the poetry collection Personae, the travelogue 'The Serbian Parable' and the novel, 'Wishes Granted.' She contributes essays on life in contemporary Russia to several newspapers and journals, including Logos, a philosophical magazine. She holds a Master’s degree from Moscow University, where she recently taught a special course on poets and power. She participates courtesy of the William B. Quarton Foundation. Bibliography | Golubovich writing sample
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G. Ayurzana (poet, fiction/nonfiction writer, editor; Mongolia) is a graduate of the Maxim Gorky Literary Institute in Moscow. He has published six books of poetry, two collections of short stories, several non-fiction books, and three novels. In 2002, he was awarded the National Literary Award Altan Od [Golden Feather] for Durlalgui yrtontsiin blues [‘The Blues of a World Without Love’] and again in 2003 for the novel Ilbe zereglee [‘The Magic Mirage’]. He participates courtesy of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State. Bibliography | G.Ayurzana writing sample
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Simone INGUANEZ (poet, translator; Malta) has published two collections of poetry: 'Water, Fire, Earth, and I' (2005) and Ftit Mara Ftit Tifla (‘Part Woman Part Child,’ 2005). Some of her works are available in English, French and Finnish, with German translations forthcoming. Inguanez holds a degree in Law from the University of Malta. She has worked as an editor and translator in Malta. She participates courtesy of the U.S. Embassy in Floriana. Bibliography | Inguanez writing sample
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Khaled KHALIFA (screenwriter, novelist; Syria) has written extensively for film and television and authored three novels (titled, in translation 'The Guard of Deception,' 1993; The Gypsy Notebooks, 2000; and In Praise of Hatred, 2006), published in multiple editions in the Arab world. His honors include a 2007 award from the Ismaiiliyah International Festival for Documentaries and a 2005 Award for Best Script for Bab al Maqam, from the Valencia Film Festival. Currently, he is working on his fourth novel, A Parallel Life. He participates courtesy of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State. Bibliography | Khalifa writing sample
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KHET Mar (novelist, fiction writer, essayist; Myanmar) is one of Myanmar’s most active literary voices. She has published one novel (‘Wild Snowy Night,’ 1995), a volume of essays (‘Learning from My Son,’ 2001), and a collection of short stories with three other women writers (‘The Pink Before Dark,’ 1996). Her work has appeared in numerous journals and magazines, was adapted into radio plays, and a story (‘Not Novel’) was made into a short film in Japan. Currently, she works as a freelance journalist in Yangon. Bibliography | Khet writing sample
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KIM Reon (novelist, fiction writer; South Korea) holds a degree in English literature from Yonsei University. She is the author of six novels, most recently ‘Gardenia and Mulberry in the Summer Days’ (2006). Among her awards is the 1997 Hankyoreh Literature Award, which she received for her fourth novel, ‘So Was I Once a Swinger of Birches.’ Her fiction has appeared in numerous journals and magazines. She participates courtesy of the Korean Literature Translation Institute. Bibliography | Kim writing sample
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Peter KIMANI (novelist, fiction writer, poet; Kenya) is a newspaper editor making a name as a satirist and novelist. Awarded the inaugural Okoth K’Obonyo Playwriting Competition in 1994, he attended the Mesa Refuge writing residency in California in 1999. His first novel, Before the Rooster Crows, was published in 2002 to wide acclaim. He is currently the Managing Editor of the national paper, Saturday Times in Kenya, while working on his second novel. He participates courtesy of a private gift to the IWP. Bibliography | Kimani writing sample
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Angelo R. LACUESTA (fiction writer; The Philippines) has published two collections of short stories in English, Life Before X (2000) and White Elephants (2005). A third collection, Survivors and Other Stories, is forthcoming in 2007, along with his first novel. Lacuesta’s awards include two National Book Awards from the Manila Critics Circle, the Madrigal-Gonzalez Best First Book Award, several Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards, and Philippine Graphic Magazine Literary Awards and the NVM Gonzalez Award. He is the literary editor of the Philippines Free Press. He participates courtesy of the U.S. Embassy in Manila. Bibliography | Lacuesta writing sample
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LO Yi-Chin (novelist, fiction writer; Taiwan) holds degrees from the Chinese Culture University and the National Institute of the Arts in Taiwan. He has published ten books of fiction and poetry, most recently 'We' (2004). Among his awards are a First Prize in Fiction from the China Times Literary Awards and a Taipei Literary Annual Award. His work is regularly named on the top ten lists compiled by various newspapers in Taiwan. Bibliography | Yi-chin LO writing sample
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Kei MILLER (poet, fiction writer; Jamaica) won the Jamaica Observer Literary Prizes for both fiction and poetry in 2002. His first collection of poetry, Kingdom of Empty Bellies, came out in 2005, the year he also attended the Yaddo artist colony; another volume, There Is An Anger That Moves, will appear later this year. His 2006 short story collection, The Fear of Stones and Other Stories, was short-listed for the Commonwealth Writers First Book Prize. Miller is the editor of New Caribbean Poetry (2007). He participates courtesy of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State. Bibliography | Miller writing sample
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Kiran NAGARKAR (novelist, playwright, critic, screenwriter; India) is a widely-read bilingual author in contemporary Indian literature, working in both English and Marathi. His novels and screenplays have been well received in India, England, Germany, and the U.S., leading to a Rockefeller Fellowship, the 2000 Sahitya Akademi Award for Best Novel (Cuckold, 1997), and a City of Munich Fellowship. Nagarkar’s latest novel in English, God’s Little Soldier (2006), has been translated into German, with French, Italian and Spanish translations forthcoming. He participates courtesy of the U.R. Ananthamurthy Foundation. Bibliography | Nagarkar writing sample
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Vijay NAIR (playwright, novelist; India) is the author of the novel Master of Life Skills (2006) and several plays. Recent stage productions include Scars in My Memory; Shadows on the Wall; Weeds; The Window; and The Gloomy Rabbit, all of which he wrote, directed and/or staged. In 2005, Nair received the Charles Wallace Award from the British Council, and was Writer-in-Residence at the University of Kent, Canterbury. Current projects include a second novel, a new play, and a film script. His website is www.vijaynair.net; he participates courtesy of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the US Department of State. Bibliography | Nair writing sample |
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Kavery NAMBISAN (novelist, fiction writer, essayist; India) has worked as a surgeon in rural areas throughout India. She currently runs a medical centre for workers in Maharashtra, and a Learning Centre for their children. She has authored five novels, most recently ‘The Hills of Angheri,’ 2005, and several children’s books. Among her honors is a UNICEF-CBT Award for her children’s novel, ‘Once Upon a Forest.’ She also writes on healthcare issues for Indian press. She participates courtesy of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State. Bibliography | Nambisan writing sample
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Beaudelaine PIERRE (novelist, fiction writer, non-fiction writer; Haiti) is the author of three novels, most recently Ratures aux Quotidiens [‘Daily Articles,’ 2004], which she co-wrote with Gaspard Dorélien. Her debut novel Testaman [‘The Will’] won First Prize in the 2002 Best Creole-Language Novel Contest sponsored by the newspaper Bon Nouvel in Port-Au-Prince. She participates courtesy of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the US Department of State. Bibliography |Pierre writing sample
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Lawrence PUN (fiction, non-fiction, literary criticism; Hong Kong) has authored three novels, most recently ‘The Lost Land’ (2005), and a number of non-fiction works. Among his awards are the Hong Kong Youth Literary Award, a Chinese Literature Creative Award, and the 7th Hong Kong Chinese Literary Biennial Award. His fiction appears regularly in journals and anthologies in Hong Kong and mainland China. He currently teaches creative writing at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. His website and blog are at www.lawpun.com and http://blog.sina.com.cn/lawpun. He participates courtesy of the Asian Cultural Council. Bibliography | Pun writing sample
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RA Heeduk (poet, professor; South Korea) received her PhD in Korean Language and Literature from Yonsei University in 2006. She has authored five books of poetry, most recently ‘A Disappeared Palm’ (2004); one collection of essays (‘A Water Bucket Filled By Half,’ 1999); and a volume of literary criticism (‘Where Does the Purple Come From,’ 2003). Among her awards is an I-San Prize for Literature (2004). She currently teaches literature at Chosun University in Kwangju. She participates courtesy of Arts Council Korea. Bibliography | Ra writing sample
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Al-Mustaqeem M. RADHI (non-fiction writer, translator; Malaysia) has translated four volumes of non-fiction from English and Arabic into Malay, and in 2006 edited the treatise ‘Islam and Pluralism.’ An accomplished editor, he has managed political and economic journals at the Open Dialogue Center and the Institute for Policy Research. Currently, he is Executive Director of the Middle Eastern Graduate Centre in Kuala Lumpur. He participates courtesy of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State. Bibliography | Radhi writing sample
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Aziz Nazmi SHAKIR-TASH (poet, fiction writer; translator; Bulgaria) works in Arabic, Turkish, and English both as a scholar and as a writer. He has authored three books of poetry, most recently ‘A Sky at 33’ (2007), and one collection of short stories (‘Rain Apocrypha,’ 2004). An accomplished translator and editor with more than a dozen translations of poetry and prose to his credit, he publishes both in Bulgaria and in Turkey. He participates courtesy of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State. Bibliography | Shakir-Tash writing sample
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Ognjen SPAHIC (novelist, fiction writer; Montenegro)
studied Civil Engineering and Philosophy at the University of Montenegro. He has authored one novel, Hansenova djeca (‘Hansen’s Children,’ 2004), and two collections of short stories, Sve to (‘All That,’ 2001) and Zimska potraga (‘Winter Search’ 2007) . His novel, which won a 2005 Mesha Selimovic Award, is available in French and Polish translations. He works as journalist for the independent daily press, Vijesti, in Podgorica. Spahic participates courtesy of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State. Bibliography | Spahic writing sample
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Saša STANISIC (novelist, Germany) was born in Višegrad, Bosnia. In 1992, his family escaped the war and came to Germany. He has authored a novel, several audioplays, short stories, poems, essays and translations. How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone, his first novel, was published in 2006 to wide acclaim. Translations into 21 languages are forthcoming.
Stanisic is now working on a play and his second novel. More information about this author can be found here and here. He participates courtesy of the Max Kade Foundation. Bibliography | Stanisic writing sample
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Verena TAY (playwright; Singapore) has spent the last two decades working in Singapore’s English-language theatre. Since 1997, she has concentrated on solo performances. Some of her recent projects include Cotton & Jade (2000), Medea: One on One (2002), 3 Women (2005) and Between Woman and Man: The Erasure of Verena Tay (2007). Another of her plays, The Car, won Action Theatre’s Theatre Idols in 2005; The Car was fully staged at The Esplanade Theatre Studio in 2006). Tay teaches voice, speech, and presentation skills in Singapore. Her website is http://verenatay.com. She participates courtesy of the National Arts Council (Singapore), the Singapore International Foundation, The Substation arts center, and other sources. Bibliography | Tay writing sample
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Penelope TODD (novelist, non-fiction writer, editor; New Zealand) writes fiction for youth and adults. She lives in New Zealand's southernmost city of Dunedin where she works as an editor. Zillah, the final installment of her young adult Watermark trilogy, was published this year. A memoir, Digging for Spain, is forthcoming in 2008, and she is at work on a new novel for adults, tentatively titled On this Island. She participates courtesy of Creative New Zealand, and h er website is http://www.penelopetodd.co.nz. Bibliography | Todd writing sample
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The IWP is pleased to welcome these special visitors, who will participate in a portion of the 2007 residency.
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Peter COLE is a poet and translator of Hebrew and Arabic. His original volumes include
Rift (Station Hill) and Hymns & Qualms (Sheep Meadow Press). A third volume, What Is Doubled: Poems 1981-1989, was recently published by Shearsman Books in the UK. His 1996 translation, Selected Poems of Shmuel HaNagid, received the Modern Language Association’s Scaglione Prize for Translation. Other translations from contemporary Hebrew and Arabic literatures are Love & Selected Poems of Aharon Shabtai (Sheep Meadow), J’Accuse, by Aharon Shabtai (New Directions), and So What: New & Selected Poems, 1971-2005 by Taha Muhammad Ali (Copper Canyon Press). Winner of the 2004 PEN-America Translation Award, Cole lives in Jerusalem, where he co-edits Ibis Editions. He is a 2007 MacArthur Fellow.
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Maria GALINA (poet, critic, translator, science fiction writer; Russia) grew up in Odessa. She has a degree in marine biology. Her first publication was in Yunost (Youth) in 1991. From 2000-2001, she was a regular columnist for Literatunaya Gazeta. She is currently a chief editor of Drugaya Storona (The Other Side), a non-commercial literature project, and a columnist for the magazine Znamya (Banner). Galina is the recipient of numerous literary awards, including the Novyi Mir Prize in 2005 and the prestigious Moskovski Schyot (The Moscow Tally) in 2006. Galina’s novel, The End of Summer, is available in English translation from Glas publishers (2006, trans. Andrew Bromfield), and her novel Givi i Shenderovich (‘Givi and Shenderovich,’) is forthcoming in English. She participates courtesy of the Open World Cultural Leaders Program. (Author photo by
Andrey
Vasilesky) Bibliography | Galina writing sample
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Reginald GIBBONS is a faculty member in Northwestern's Department of English and
Classics, where for sixteen years he edited TriQuarterly magazine. He is the
author of 30 books, most recently an edited collection of the
autobiographical writings of William Goyen entitled Goyen: Autobiographical Essays,
Notebooks, Evocations, Interviews. His eighth collection of poems will be
published in 2008, and he has also written several poetry chapbooks. He has held Guggenheim and NEA fellowships in poetry, and has won the
Anisfield Wolf Book Award, the Carl Sandburg Prize, and the Folger Shakespeare
Library's 2004 O. B. Hardison Jr. Poetry Prize. His work has been anthologized in Best American Poetry and The Pushcart Prize.
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Iman HUMAYDAN YOUNES (fiction writer, journalist; Lebanon) has published two critically acclaimed novels. Her first, B as in Beirut, was published in 1997, and her second, Wild Mulberries, was published in 2001. Her third novel, Other Lives, will be released in Beirut in 2008. In addition to writing novels, Humaydan is a journalist, researcher and anthropologist. She is a founding member of The Anthropological Society in Lebanon. Humaydan will also be one of the teachers in June 2008 of the inaugural Between the Lines Program. She is participating courtesy of the State Department. (Author photo by Reine Mahfouz) Bibliography | Humaydan Younes writing sample
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Leonid KOSTYUKOV (poet, prose writer, literary critic, editor; Russia) is a graduate of the Department of Mechanics and Mathematics at Moscow State University, as well as the Literary Institute. His articles, essays, poems, and prose have appeared in Friendship of Nations, Independent Newspaper, Postscriptum, Pushkin, Russian Telegraph, Solo, Week, Weekly Magazine and others. His essay, “On American Culture,” was included in the collection Amerika: Russian Writers View of the United States. His work in Russian includes a collection of short fiction He Returned to Our City and the novel The Great Country. Currently, he is the editor of the multimedia journal, Devushka s Veslom (Girl with an Oar) and a member of the selection committee of the Debut prize, one of Russia’s premiere contests for young writers. He participates courtesy of the Open World Cultural Leaders Program. Bibliography | Kostyukov writing sample
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Ilya KUTIK is an acclaimed poet, essayist, and scholar working across Russian and Scandinavian literatures. He has published many volumes of poetry and translations, most recently The Death of Tragedy, and several books of essays and criticism. Other recent titles include
The Ode and The Odic: Essays on Mandelstam, Pasternak, Tsvetaeva, and Mayakovsky;
Hieroglyphs of Another World: On Poetry, Swedenborg, and Other Matters; and
Writing as Exorcism: The Personal Codes of Pushkin, Lermontov, and Gogol.
At
Northwestern University, he teaches courses in Russian and Scandinavian literature, film
and visual arts in the Department of Slavic languages and literatures.
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Salman MASALHA (poet; Israel) holds a Ph.D. from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he has taught Arabic language and literature. He is the author of six volumes of poetry in Arabic, most recently Lughat Umm (‘Mother Tongue,’ 2006), and one collection in Hebrew, Ehad Mikan (‘In Place,’ 2004). His articles, columns, poems, and translations have appeared widely in Arabic, Hebrew, and European languages. He currently serves on the editorial board of Masharef, a quarterly Arabic journal. He participates courtesy of the United States-Israel Education Foundation (USIEF). Bibliography | Masalha writing sample
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NA Teng Choon James (pen name: Yun He, poet; China/The Philippines) was born and educated in the Phillipines. At 17 he published his debut poetry collection, Melancholic Score. More books followed, namely Springtime in Autumn, The Rainbow Snatcher, and The Blue Dust. Na’s poetry explores a range of techniques, from lyric to aesthetic and contemporary forms. In the eighties he published two more collections, Wild Plant and In the Light of Poetry and Photography. His participation is independently funded. Bibliography | Na writing sample
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Lindsay SIMPSON (novelist, journalist, non-fiction writer; Australia) spent twelve years as an investigative journalist with The Sydney Morning Herald and in 1999 was the founding member of the Journalism and Media Studies program at the University of Tasmania. Author of six books of non-fiction, she currently lectures on journalism and writing at James Cook University. In 2006 she published her first novel, The Curer of Souls. Her participation is partly funded by James Cook University. Bibliography | Simpson writing sample
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Sergey SOLOUKH (prose writer; Russia) was trained as a mining engineer. He is the author of numerous works including the titles Papa Zappa (1997) and The Lonely Hearts Club of Hunter Prishibeyev, as well as three collections of short stories. For three successive years, he was awarded the prestigious Kazakov Prize (2003, 2004, and 2005). He lives in Siberia with his wife and two children, where he works as a business manager for a mining equipment production company. He participates courtesy of the Open World Cultural Leaders Program. Bibliography | Soloukh writing sample
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Ekaterina TARATUTA (novelist, fiction writer, philosopher, editor; Russia) graduated from Novosibirsk State University, first from the Department of Linguistics, and then from the Department of Philosophy. She lectures on social philosophy at St. Petersburg State University, from where she received her PhD. She also works as a freelance columnist, and is regularly published in newspapers and both academic and non-academic journals. Taratuta’s Russian-language publications include works of fiction (‘One Hundred and One Minutes,’ 2007, ‘The General Hygiene of Dr. Andreas,’ forthcoming, ‘Fishes and Frogs,’ forthcoming), and an academic text titled ‘A Philosophy of Virtual Reality,’( 2007). She participates courtesy of the Open World Cultural Leaders Program.
Bibliography | Taratuta writing sample
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Alexander ULANOV (poet, critic, translator; Russia) earned a Ph.D. in engineering from Samara State Aerospace University, where he is currently an associate professor of aircraft engine design. Though he does not consider writing to be his principal occupation, he is extremely active in the Russian literary scene. Ulanov has nearly 350 publications to his credit, including works of poetry, short fiction, book reviews, articles on modern Russian literature, and translations. More information about this author can be found at http://www.vavilon.ru/texts/prim/ulanov0.html. He participates courtesy of CEC-Artslink. Bibliography | Ulanov writing sample
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The IWP is pleased to welcome these visitors during the 40th Anniversary Commemoration, October 7-12.
For a schedule of events taking place during the Anniversary Week, please visit the IWP Home Page .
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Abdalla Mohamed Abdalla was born in 1953 in Sudan, where he worked as a teacher, freelance musician, activist and journalist (where he wrote on culture and politics for various newspapers and magazines). He has co-authored a book on traditional Sudanese musical instruments and composed music for two films. In 1991 he went into exile, and lived in Russia and Egypt before coming to the United States as a refugee in1996.
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Oscar Argueta was born in San Luís Jilotepeque, Jalapa, Guatemala, in 1954. At the age of 7 he was taught the art of tailoring by his uncles, and from his maternal grandmother he learned Mayan mythology and a long list of refrains and sayings. He graduated as a teacher from INCAV, and in the early 1980s studied fashion merchandising in Salt Lake City, Utah. In 2000 he published the book Nostalgia. At present he is the director and publisher of El Heraldo Hispano, a biweekly Spanish newspaper with a circulation of 6,000 distributed in 26 towns in Iowa and Illinois. Father of nine and grandfather of six, he has resided in Mount Pleasant, Iowa since September 1999. In 2006 he was named by former Governor Thomas Vilsack to serve as a commissioner on the Iowa Commission of Latino Affairs.
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Roberto Ampuero is the author of nine novels, one volume of short stories, and one collection of essays. Born in Chile, he lived in Cuba, East Germany, West Germany, and Sweden before coming to the United States in 2000. He was an IWP fellow in 1996, and earned his master’s and doctorate degrees at the University of Iowa, where he now teaches Latin American literature and creative writing and leads a Spanish-language fiction workshop. He also writes columns for La Tercera and the New York Times Syndicate. His work has been published throughout Latin America as well as in Croatia, China, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain, and the US. His last novel, Pasiones griegas, was voted “Best Novel Published In Spanish In 2006” by the National People’s Publishing House of China and the Association of Chinese Hispanists. Currently he is working on a novel to be released in 2008.
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Richard T. Arndt just left the presidency of Americans for UNESCO; previously he headed the American Fulbright Association of US alumni. He served for 24 years in the Near East, South Asia and Europe with the State Department and the U.S. Information Agency, principally as Cultural Attache in Beirut, Colombo (Sir Lanka), Tehran, Rome, and Paris. He presently chairs the US Committee for the Preservation of Ancient Tyre. His major book The First Resort of Kings: American Cultural Diplomacy in the 20th Century appeared in 2005 and in paperbck in 2006; in 1993 he was principal editor of The Fulbright Difference: 1947-92. He holds a Ph.D. in French literature (18th century) from Columbia University, where he taught until 1961. Since leaving the Foreign Service, he has taught at the University of Virginia, Johns Hopkins, and George Washington University. He has seven grandchildren.
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Sandra Barkan recently retired from her position as associate dean of the Graduate College at the University of Iowa. While at UI, she also was a professor in the Department of Cinema and Comparative Literature, specializing in African literatures. She has held offices in the African Literature Association and the African Studies Association, and also served as Interim Director of the International Writing Program and Executive Director of the Honors Program.
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Marvin Bell is the author of 18 volumes of poetry and essays. His honors include the American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Literature, Guggenheim and National Endowment for the Arts fellowships, and Senior Fulbright appointments to Yugoslavia and Australia. He is a long-time member of the faculty of the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop, where he is the Flannery O'Connor Professor of Letters. He has twice been named Poet Laureate of the state of Iowa.
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Cheng Chou-yu came to the IWP in 1968 and earned an MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop. He taught Asian Studies at the University of Iowa, then at Yale for over twenty years. Recently retired from Yale, he is now teaching poetry at Hong Kong University. He has published several volumes of poetry, and is widely considered the modern Li Po. Like the Tang poet, he believes in the enjoyment of life: poetry, nature, and drinking. Musicality is prominent in his Chinese-language poetry. He is a frequent traveler, as demonstrated by his line: "I am a passer-by, not a returned man." (Photo from Iowa City, early 1970s)
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Stavros Deligiorgis was born in 1933 in Sulina, Romania, of Greek parents. He attended the Greek community schools of Sulina and Bucharest before emigrating to Greece after WWII. From 1947-1957 he lived with his parents in a 2,000-inmate refugee camp while also finishing his secondary education and graduating from the National University of Athens. He studied English and American literature at Yale on a Fulbright scholarship, and Comparative Literature, Classics, Old and Middle English at the University of California at Berkeley. Between 1965 and 1996 he taught in the English and Cinema and Comparative Literatures departments at the University of Iowa. He has received numerous research awards, and his publications include books and articles in scholarly journals, as well as performance and intermedia art projects.
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Lyombe “Leo” Eko is an associate professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Iowa. He has served as a journalist and producer at the African Broadcasting Union (URTNA) in Nairobi, Kenya, and at Cameroon Radio and Television Corporation. He has produced several video documentaries on African topics, three of which have won honorable mention at festivals in Germany and Canada. His research has been published in many journals, including The International Journal of Communication Law and Policy, Journal for Journalism in Southern Africa (Ecquid Novi), and the Encyclopedia of International Media and Communications.
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Dedi Felman is an editor of Words Without Borders and a a senior editor at Simon & Schuster. She reads several languages and helped found The Front Table, a book- review web publication.
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Mike Finn is an actor and playwright and an Honorary Fellow of the University of Iowa. He is noted for producing locally popular plays on Limerick history. His best known play, Pigtown (1999), covers the forgotten moments in 20th-century Limerick history from the point of view of a dying man. Mike Finn's other plays include The Crunch (1992), Charlie Chaplin's Mother Was An Irish Man (1995) (both co-written with Terry Devlin), The Quiet Moment (2002) (read in London, March 06), Shock and Awe (2003), Ellis Island (2003) and ONE (2006). He also writes the Irish television sitcom Killinaskully for Pat Shortt Productions.
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James Leach represented the Second District of Iowa in the U.S. Congress from 1977 to 2007. He is currently on the faculty of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, serving as the John L. Weinberg/Goldman Sachs and Co. Visiting Professor of Public and International Affairs. Recently he was named the interim director of the Institute of Politics at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.
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Li Rui is a literary heavyweight in Chinese writing today. He has published several books of novels and short stories. He became best known for a series of stories published under the title Houtu (Thick Earth), which won the China Times Literary Prize and gained him a reputation across the Taiwan Straits. One of his novels, Tale of Silver City, consists of stories of individuals who were either pro- or anti-revolution at the end of Imperial China, and for whom their common fate was death. Many of his works have been translated into Swedish, English, French, Japanese, German, Dutch, and other languages.
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Christopher Mattison graduated with an MFA in Literary Translation from the University of Iowa and is currently managing editor of Zephyr Press, co-director of the series Adventures in Poetry, and translation editor for the Zoland Poetry annual. His translations from the Russian include Dmitrii Prigov’s 50 Drops of Blood in an Absorbent Medium (Ugly Duckling Presse) and the forthcoming Eccentric Circles: Selected Prose of Venedikt Erofeev (Twisted Spoon Press). He also edited Bei Dao’s first two books of essays, Blue House (Zephyr Press) and Midnight’s Gate (New Directions). (Photo by Jody Beenk)
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Pierre-Damien Mvuyekure is a professor of English and African-American literature at the University of Northern Iowa, where, in 2005, he was named the Dr. Philip G. Hubbard Outstanding Educator. A native of Rwanda, he specializes in African and African diaspora literatures. His most recent book is The Dark Heathenism of the American Novelist Ishmael Reed: African Voodoo as Americas Literary HooDoo (Edwin Mellen, 2007).
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Michael Orthofer is the founder and managing editor of The Complete Review and its popular weblog, The Literary Saloon, both of which focus on international writing. A native of Austria, he attended Columbia Law School and is also an attorney in New York City.
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Chad W. Post is the director of Open Letter, a new publishing venture at the University of Rochester dedicated to publishing quality fiction from around the world. He is also the co-founder of Reading the World—a collaborative program designed to help publishers and booksellers promote literature in translation—and was formerly the associate director of Dalkey Archive Press.
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Tomaz Šalamun was born in Zagreb, Croatia, raised in Koper, Slovenia, and now makes his home in Ljubljana. He studied art history and worked as a curator and a conceptual artist before turning to the written word. Having published 25 volumes of poems in his native Slovenia, Šalamun has received many prizes in Europe and been translated into nearly a dozen languages. The Selected Poems Of Tomaz Šalamun, edited and in large part translated by Charles Simic, was the poet's debut collection in English, brought out in 1988 as part of Ecco Press's prestigious Modern European Poetry series. It was followed by The Shepherd, The Hunter (Pedernal, 1992), The Four Questions Of Melancholy (White Pine Press, 1997), Feast (Harcourt, 2000), and The Book for My Brother (Harvest Books, 2006).
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Ersi Sotiropoulos is a Greek poet, novelist, and short story writer. Her novel, Zigzag through the Bitter Orange Trees, was awarded both the National Literature Prize and the Book Critics' Award in 2000, and was published in English in 2007 by Interlink Press. She has written scripts for film and television and participated in several exhibitions of visual and concrete poetry.
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Harilaos “Harry” Stecopoulos is an assistant professor of English at the University of Iowa, where he teaches courses on modern American literature, culture, and performance, with specific interests in the novel, cultural studies, and postcolonial theory. His publications include the co-edited anthology Race and the Subject of Masculinities (Duke, 1997) and essays on Stuart Hall and Edgar Rice Burroughs.
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Russell Valentino is an associate professor of Russian and Comparative Literature and the director of the Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies at the University of Iowa. His books include Vicissitudes of Genre in the Russian Novel; Persuasion and Rhetoric, translated, with an introduction and commentary, from the Italian of Carlo Michelstaedter; Materada, translated from the Italian of Fulvio Tomizza; and Between Exile and Asylum: An Eastern Epistolary, translated from the Croatian of Predrag Matvejevic. His essays, translations, and reviews have appeared in a variety of professional and literary journals, including Two Lines, The Iowa Review, Slavic Review, The Russian Review, The Bloomsbury Review, 91st Meridian, and eXchanges. He is the founder and editor-in-chief of Autumn Hill Books, an Iowa City-based press devoted to publishing literary translations in English.
(Photo by Ellie Ga)
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Santiago Vaquera-Vásquez is an unrepentant border crosser, writer, painter, former DJ, and academic who has published stories in international literary journals and newspapers as well as in major anthologies on contemporary literature in the Americas. He has been invited to give readings from his work at universities and conferences in Spain, Mexico, Colombia, and the United States. Currently an assistant professor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at the University of Iowa, he has also taught at Penn State, Texas A & M University, and has been a visiting scholar at Dartmouth College. In 2006, as a Fulbright Senior Lecturer in Spain, he lectured at universities in Madrid and Salamanca. His academic work on US/Mexico border cultures has been published in journals and anthologies in Mexico and the United States.
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Eliot Weinberger was born in 1949 in New York City, where he still lives. He is the primary translator of Octavio Paz into English. His anthology American Poetry Since 1950: Innovators and Outsiders (Marsilio, 1993) was a bestseller in Mexico, and his edition of Jorge Luis Borges's Selected Non-Fictions (Penguin, 1999) received the National Book Critics Circle prize for criticism. In 1992, he received PEN's first Gregory Kolovakos Award for his work in promoting Hispanic literature in the United States, and in 2000 he was the first American literary writer to be awarded the Order of the Aztec Eagle by the government of Mexico. He is the author of three books of literary essays and a collection of political articles, What Happened Here: Bush Chronicles (shortlisted for the National Book Critics Circle Award), all published by New Directions. His essay "What I Heard About Iraq" became an Internet phenomenon, was adapted into a hit play, and read at antiwar demonstrations throughout the world. His latest book is titled An Elemental Thing (New Directions, 2007).
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Daniel Weissbort edited the magazine Modern Poetry in Translation, which he co-founded with the late Ted Hughes, from 1965-2003. He is an emeritus professor at the University of Iowa, where he directed the MFA Program in Translation. Currently, he is Honorary Professor in the Centre for Translation and Comparative Cultural Studies at the University of Warwick. Weissbort has published numerous collections of translations and has edited several anthologies and collections of his own poetry, including Letters to Ted (Anvil, 2002).
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Jane Wells is a freelance writer and producer living in New York. Since moving from the UK in 1984 she has worked for Granada Television, First Run Features, and Circulo de Lectores. She is the founder and president of Three Generations, an organization devoted to archiving and ending genocide. Over the last few years she has traveled to Sudan, Chad, Rwanda, Kenya, Botswana, Uganda and South Africa focusing her work on the plight of those whose lives have been ruined by the genocide. Her pieces about what she has witnessed in Africa have appeared in British Vogue and Diversion as well as the online journal The Huffington Post. She is producer of the feature documentary “The Devil Came on Horseback,” which premiered at Sundance in 2007.
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Xi Chuan grew up during the upheaval of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) and is now considered one of the most well-known poets affiliated with the avant-garde literary scene in China. He is professor of English literature and Dean of Arts of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, and a member of the board of directors of the Chinese Poets’ Association, He has published several collections of poems in addition to a play and translations. His poetry has been widely anthologized and translated into more than ten languages. top
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Ya Hsien was the first Chinese writer to participate in the IWP residency when it started in 1967. He is one of the leading modernist Chinese-language poets, and has published several books of poems. He is a storyteller in poetry; his poems are witty, musical, and have a sense of the vicissitudes of Chinese life. In 1977, he became the literary editor of the leading newspaper in Taiwan, United Daily News. He has established awards for several literary genres and brought young literary talents to prominence. Currently retired, he lives in Canada. (Photo from 1967, Iowa City)
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Matvei Yankelevich is the founding editor of Ugly Duckling Presse in Brooklyn, where he publishes and co-edits 6x6, a poetry periodical. His translations and original work have appeared in LIT, Open City, Greetings, New York Nights, New American Writing, canwehaveourballback, Shampoo, neotrope, Dirigible, and others. His book series, Writing in the Margin, is published by Loudmouth Collective. (Photo by Ellie Ga)
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