Agata BIELIK-ROBSON (a-GA-ta BIEY-lik-ROB-son; essayist, philosopher; Poland, b. 1966, Warsaw) received her M.A. from Warsaw University (1989, with distinction) and her PhD from The Polish Academy of Sciences in 1995, which gave her a special award for her thesis, "The Crisis of the Subject in Contemporary Philosophy." She has presented papers in journals and at conferences prolifically over the past decade, as well as publishing the books, On the Other Side of Nihilism: Contemporary Philosophy in Search for a New Subjectivity (1997, IFIS PAN Press), Other Modernity: A Hidden Life of the Modern Soul (2000, Universitas) and her translation of Harold Bloom's seminal The Anxiety of Influence into Polish.  Her recent work on the Romantic conception of subjectivity, The Spirit of the Surface. Romantic Prolegomena to Any Future Philosophy of Subjectivity (forthcoming in Polish, Universitas) aims, via its translation into English, "to show the Anglo-Saxon reader the unity, as well as actuality, of the Romantic movement perceived from both, British-American and Central European perspective." Dr. Bielik writes, "although I was originally trained as a philosopher, I often find more inspiration in the field of literature than in strictly academic philosophical writings. I am a strong advocate of the 'literary style' in philosophy, as well as of bringing together these two crucial domains of contemporary humanities."  She is participating courtesy of Jurzykowski Foundation. (writing sample)

Denisa COMANESCU (family name Prelipceanu )(De-NI-suh Coh-mah-NES-ku; poet, editor, translator; Romania, b. 1954, Buzau) has coordinated a series of world literature, "Biblioteca Polirom," at Polirom Publishing House since 2001, but has been an editor for more than twenty years. After her debut in the literary journal Romania literara in 1975, Izgonirea din Paradise (Banishment from Paradise, 1979), her first book of poetry, won the Debut Prize of the Writers' Union . Since then she has published four more volumes of poetry which enjoy a wide readership both in Romania and abroad and have garnered numerous accolades. A distinguished translator, she has published selections of Alan Brownjohn's and Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin's poetry and edited the bilingual Romanian/Polish anthology, Strong-28 Women Poets of Romania (1999). She is currently working on an anthology of Romanian women's poetry composed between 1960-2003. Ms. Comanescu was a founding member of the Civic Alliance (an association of Romanian intellectuals set up in 1990 whose ongoing purpose has been to strengthen the civil society) and has been the Secretary of the Romanian PEN Center for thirteen years. She is participating courtesy of the U.S. State Department. (writing sample)

Matthias GÖRITZ (ma-THI-is GUR-itz; poet; Germany, b.1969, Hamburg) has taught at many German Universities as well as at Bard College in New York. A recipient of numerous fellowships, he has spent time in several European cities as well as New York and Chicago. His first book of poems, Loops, was published in 2001 in German and he has contributed prose and poetry to many magazines, anthologies and the major German newspapers Süddeutsche Zeitung and Die Welt.  He co-translated (with Chong Heyong) a book by the Korean writer Kim Kwang Kyu, entitled The Depth of the Shell and does frequent translations from the English for the German journal, Sprache im technischen Zeitalter, where he is also a contributing editor. He is participating courtesy of Max Kade German Writer in Residence Program. (writing sample)

HOANG Ly (pen name, Ly Hoang Ly) (ho-ang lee; poet, visual artist; Vietnam, b. 1975, Hanoi) won the First Prize at the New Pens Poetry contest in 1996 and was elected Poet of the Year by the readers of Nguoi Lao Dong (Worker) Newspaper in 1999. Her poems have been widely anthologized, translated into French and English, and published in various magazines and newspapers in Vietnam. Her first book of poetry, White Grass, came out in 1999; her second and most recent book, The Night Is Flowing towards the Sky, will appear soon this year. Besides writing poetry, she has also done a translation of Jack London's The Call of the Wild (1995). Ms. Hoang Ly paints and works in installation & performance art as well. She has been teaching young children how to paint since 1997 and has held exhibits of her work and participated in a number of art festivals in Asia as well as the U.S.   She will be participating courtesy of the U.S. Department of State. (writing sample)

JEONG Han Yong (JEONG HAN YONG; poet, critic, translator; South Korea, b. 19 5 8, Choongju) is editor of the two most influential literary magazines in Korea: Spirit & Expression and People Loving Poetry. The first magazine deals with multiple genres of literature while the latter is dedicated solely to poetry. He also manages PoemCafe (www.poemcafe.com), a global network of poets which began in 2000 and now has more than 90 members worldwide.  Mr. Jeong majored in modern Korean poetry, and received his Ph.D. at Kyeonghee University in Seoul.  He has published three books of poems: The Appointment with a Stranger (1990), Sad Santa Fe (1994), and Nana Stories (1999). He also has a collection of essays titled Two Reports about Hell (1995). His next collection of poems will be out in late 2003. He is participating courtesy of the Korean Culture and Art Foundation. (writing sample)

Ethan W. Kim (Kim Won-Chung) (E-thin W. Kim ; translator, poet; Korea, b. 1959, Changhung) is an associate professor of English Literature at Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul, Korea. He has received his Ph. D. in English from University of Iowa (1993) and written widely about contemporary American poets, especially ecopoets such as Gary Snyder, Wendell Berry, and A.R. Ammons. He is vice-president of ASLE_Korea (Association for the Study of Literature and Environment) and editor of Literature and Environment. He was awarded several times Korean Literature Translation Institute Grant and Daesan Foundation Award, and has translated more than six books of Korean poetry, including Heart's Agony (White Pine Press, 1998), Flowers in the Toilet Bowl (Homa & Sekey, Fall, 2003), and Trees of the World (Kegan Paul International, forthcoming). Presently he is translating with Christopher Merrill the works of Jiwoo Hwang (2000 IWP participant) and an anthology of contemporary Korean poetry. He is participating courtesy of the Freeman Foundation. (writing sample)

KIM Young-Ha (KIM YOUNG HA; fiction writer; South Korea, b. 1968, Seoul) published his debut novel Nanen nareul pagiohal gweolliga itda (I Have a Right to Destroy Myself) in 1996. The novel was translated into the French as La Mort a Demi-mots (Editions Philippe Picquier, 1998). A prolific writer, he has written more than seven books as well as a significant number of essays and film reviews. In 1999, he won the 44th Contemporary Literature Prize for the novel Dangsine Namu (Your Tree, 1999). He is also the host of a daily radio show on books and authors. He is participating courtesy of The Korea Literary Translation Institute. (writing sample)

MAUNG Swan Yi (U Win Pe) (MONG SWAN YEE; poet, fiction writer, scholar; Burma, b.1939, Kansint) won the National Literary Prize in 1964 for his collection of poetry, Poems of Red and Blue (1964). A well-known scholar and writer, his poems, short stories, book reviews, and articles on Mayanma (Burmese) literature and art have appeared in various journals, magazines, and newspapers since 1958, often under the pen name Maung Swan Yi. He has lectured on literature, at schools, town halls, churches, and monasteries, since 1962 and has also devoted himself to the preserving of Burmese culture, conducting extensive field research on Burmese folklore and folk music. He is participating through private sponsorship. (writing sample)

Minae MIZUMURA (Mee-NA-eh Mee-ZUH-muh-rah; novelist; Japan, b. 1951 , Tokyo) moved to the US when she was twelve, studied French literature at Yale but later returned to Japan to dedicate herself to fiction writing.  She is now a prominent member of Japan 's literary establishment. All her novels pay homage to Japanese literary tradition while breaking new ground. Zoku Meian (Light and Darkness Continued, 1990) finished the unfinished final novel of Natsume Soseki, a figure revered as the greatest modern novelist in Japan . Shishosetsu from left to right (I-Novel from left to right, 1995) made use of a bilingual text and horizontal print to question the notion of a Japanese national literature.  Her most recent novel, Honkaku Shosetsu (An Orthodox Novel, 2002), is a retelling of Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights in postwar Japan , featuring Heathcliff born to a Japanese woman raped by a Chinese bandit. Her novels have received critical acclaim and awards including the distinguished Yomiuri Literature Award.  She has taught at Princeton, the University of Michigan and Stanford.  She is participating courtesy of the Freeman Foundation. (writing sample)

Yevgeniya MYAGKA (pen name, KONONENKO) (yev-GHEN-iya my-AG-ka; poet, fiction writer, Ukraine, b. 1959, Kiev) is a well-known Ukrainian poet and fiction writer who has published, under the pen name Yevgeniya Kononenko, a book of poetry, two novels, and a number of short stories. She has received several prestigious literary awards, including first prize at the Granoslov Awards for her book of poetry, First Snow Waltz (1997) and the Suchasnist award for her novel Imitation (2001). She is now working on a new novel and a collection of short stories. She is participating courtesy of the U.S. State Department. (writing sample)

Gregory NORMINTON (GREG-er-ee NORM-in-ton; novelist; England, b.1976, Ascot) is the author of The Ship of Fools (2002, Sceptre), which he also helped translate into French.   He holds a BA from Oxford University in English Language and Literature as well as a classical acting degree from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.  His awards include a Writer's Award from the Arts Council of England in 2003, and a BBC "Making Waves" award at the Brighton Festival in 2000.  He has acted on television and written plays for radio.  His new novel, Arts and Wonders, will be published in 2004.  He will be participating courtesy of the U.S. Department of State. (writing sample)

Barolong SEBONI (BAR-o-long she-BOH-ni; poet, columnist; Botswana, b. 1957) attended secondary school in London and was a poet-in-residence at the Scottish Poetry Library. Upon returning to Botswana, he co-founded the Writers' Association of Botswana and is now a senior lecturer and director of the writers' workshop at the University of Botswana. Besides having his poetry published in various journals and newspapers, Mr. Seboni's satirical weekly newspaper column "In the Nitty Gritty" and his scripts for the radio soap opera on HIV/AIDS ("Makgabaneng") also enjoy widespread popularity. He is participating courtesy of the U.S. State Department. (writing sample)

Marcin SENDECKI (MAR-tzeen sen-DETZ- key, poet, Poland, b. 1967, Gdansk) belongs to the generation of Polish poets that gathered around the counter-culture quarterly bruLion (Rough Draft) and which is sometimes referred to as "The New Barbarians" (or as the "O'Haraists," due to the influence of Frank O'Hara and other New York School poets).  Mr. Sendecki has written four books of poetry, most recently, Opisy przyrody (Descriptions of Nature, 2002) and Szkoci Dol (Scottish Pit , 2002).  He co-edited the anthology of poetry, Dlugie pozegnanie. Tribute to Raymond Chandler (The Long Good-bye. Tribute to Raymond Chandler, 1997). He has been translated into numerous languages and has published books of selected poems in German and Portuguese.  In the U.S., he was included in the Chicago Review 's New Polish Writing.  He currently works for Przekroj, a weekly cultural and social magazine.  Mr. Sendecki is participating courtesy of U.S. Department of State. (writing sample)

Mirsad SIJARIC‘ (MIR-sod si-JARE-ich; poet; Bosnia and Herzegovina, b. 1970 Sarajevo, ) received a degree in history from Sarajevo University, as well a post-graduate degree in archaeology from the University in Zagreb, Croatia. He currently works as an archaeologist at Sarajevo 's National Museum, specializing in the Bosnian Mediaeval period. His first book of poems, Orao (The Eagle , 1995) came out of his experience as a front-line defender of Sarajevo in the Bosnian army and was published under the auspices of a series entitled, " Sarajevo under the Siege," which presented various works that took shape during the siege from 1992 to 1995. His work has appeared in several anthologies of Bosnian Poetry, including Scar on the Stone (ed. Chris Agee, 1998). Mr. Sijaric is currently working on a novel and a screenplay. He is participating courtesy of a CEC/ArtsLink fellowship. (writing sample)

Gábor T. SZÁNTÓ (GA-bor T. SAN-tow; poet and fiction writer; Hungary; b. 1966, Budapest) belongs to the third generation of postwar Jewish Hungarian writers, who came of age after the period of silence about Jewishness that characterized the experience of their parents' generation. Szántó has a degree in political science and jurisprudence from Eötvös Loránd University and is editor in chief of the Jewish cultural monthly Szombat, founded in 1989. He published his first volume of stories, A tizedik ember (The tenth man), in 1995. A volume of two novellas, Mószer (The Informer ) appeared in 1997 and appeared in German as In Schuld verstrickt (1999). Szántó has also published poetry and essays and a novel: Keleti pályadvar, végállomas (Eastern station, last stop). His short stories and essays have been translated in Italian, English, and German. He is participating courtesy of the U.S. State Department. (writing sample)

Paddy WOODWORTH (PAD-ee WOOD-werth; non-fiction writer; Ireland, b. 1951, Bray) has written extensively for the Irish Times, where he was a staff journalist from 1988 to 2002, first as arts editor (for six years) and later as an editor and contributor on the foreign desk.  He has worked for numerous other publications as well as in radio and television.  His first full-length book, Dirty War, Clean Hands (Cork University Press, 2001; Yale University Press, 2003), is a study of the consequences, for contemporary Spanish democracy, of the use of state terrorist methods to combat the terrorism of the Basque separatist group ETA. It was a best-seller in Ireland and received glowing reviews internationally by publications ranging from Time magazine to the Times Literary Supplement. He is currently working freelance on three book projects: images of migratory birds in human culture; a comparison of the Basque and Northern Irish conflicts; and a novel based in the Basque Country.  He is participating courtesy of the William B. Quarton International Writing Program Scholarship. (writing sample)

Visiting Alumni (2003)

Edward CAREY (fiction writer, playwright, United Kingdom; b. 1970, E. Walsham; IWP 2002) is a writer quickly gaining international recognition. He has had five plays produced, most recently an adaptation of Charles Dickens' The Pickwick Papers . His novel Observatory Mansions , a finalist for the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Prize, is appearing in ten different countries. This novel, and his new novel Alva and Irva (2003), contain original artwork by the author.

Maria van DAALEN (poet, Netherlands, b. 1950; IWP 1995) studied Dutch language and literature, specializing in medieval Dutch courtly lyrics (of several hundred works in this genre, most are from the 14 th century). Since 1990 she has focused on her own poetry, publishing six books with her primary publisher, Querido (Amsterdam): Raveslag, 1989 (The Beat of the Raven's Wing); Onder het hart , 1992 (literally, Under the heart or Pregnancy); Het Hotel, 1994 (The Hotel); Het geschenk//De maker, 1996 (The Gift//The Maker); Elektron, muon, tau , 2000, which is a book of sonnets, partly bilingual American-English and Dutch (all sonnets written in both languages by the poet), and YO! de liefde, 2003 (Wow! it's love). She has taught Creative Writing with American Studies (University of Groningen) and is currently writing an essay on Vodou (voodoo) as a conception of reality. 

Alberto FUGUET (fiction writer, Chile; b. 1964, Santiago; IWP 1994), is coeditor of Se Habla Español (Miami: Alfaguara, 2000), an anthology of Latin American authors writing, in Spanish, about the United States. In 1996 he published the notorious "McOndo," (a pun of the famous Macondo from Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude) an anthology of fiction by Latin American writers under 35. His anti-magical realist novel Mala Onda (Bad Vibes) was a bestseller for several weeks in 1991, and in 1989 his collection of short stories, Sobredosis, received the Santiago Municipal Award. He will be reading at Prairie Lights from his forthcoming novel, The Movies of My Life. He is currently a columnist for Chilean newspaper El Mercurio.

Cristián GÓMEZ (poet, Chile; b. 1971, Santiago; IWP 2002) is a professor at Diego Portales University, a regular contributor to well-known magazines, a dynamic promoter of poetry, and the winner, in 2002, of the prize "El Vina Y La Poesia," sponsored by Fundación Pablo Neruda and El Mercurio Newspaper. Besides his three collections of poetry, he has edited the Anthology of Chilean Poetry (1999), and surveyed his country's poetic landscape in his anthology Panorama of Modern Chilean Poetry (2001).

HWANG Jaewoo (poet, playwright, Korea; b. 1952, HaeNam; IWP 2000) writes under the pen name Hwang JiWoo. He is professor and chair of the Department of Playwriting at the Korean National University of Arts. He led a new wave of deconstructionist poetry in the 1980s, which was part of the new "rhetoric of resistance" in Korean literature. His subsequent work is described as embodying a native spirit, with its Korean Zen Buddhist traditions interwoven with paradox, vitality and wit. He is the author of six poetry collections, among them Even the Birds Leave the Land (1983), A Lotus in the Crab's Eye (199), I'll Sit Alone in a Darkened Pub (1998); four plays, including A Diary on the Fat Sofa (staged in 1994), Thirty Days in Prison, staged in 1999), and Bride May (2000). Hwang Jaewoo studied aesthetics and art history at Seoul National University. His education was interrupted by a forced enlistment in the army following his imprisonment for student activism against the military dictatorship. His work has received numerous national awards, including the Contemporary Literature Prize of 1991 and the DaeSan Foundation Prize in 1999. Recently, he published a play, A Materialistic Man (2003), and a translation of his poetry, Even Birds Leave the World (trans. Christopher Merrill and Won-Chung Kim), is forthcoming from White Pine Press.

Eddin Bu-Eng KHOO (poet; Malaysia, b. 1969, Selangor; IWP 2002) has been deeply involved in preserving the heritage of Malay culture, particularly through his writing. As a journalist with "The Star," Malaysia 's largest circulation English newspaper, Mr. Khoo has written many articles about the arts and traditions of Malaysia. Currently, Mr. Khoo is working to establish a publishing firm that would translate literary works into Malay in the next two years he will publish five new books of his own--works of translation, criticism, and original poetry.