How to Nominate a Writer
The IWP does not provide grants for its residents. We refer qualified writers to the cultural affairs office of the U.S. Embassy or U.S. consular office in countries abroad, or to one of the cultural agencies with whom we hold exchange agreements, including US-based foundations and the arts councils of other countries.
We provide the selection criteria below as guidance for US diplomatic missions or other cultural agencies able to sponsor participants; and as a yardstick against which individual writers can gauge their qualifications.
To nominate a writer, please complete the appropriate electronic nomination form <http://iwp.grad.uiowa.edu/>. You may upload professional materials to the site, including: a brief resumé that indicates the writer's publications, and a representative writing sample, 10-20 pages in English translation.
The IWP welcomes queries from writers. The Associate Director can be reached by e-mail: hugh-ferrer@uiowa.edu, by fax at 319/335-3843, or by mail at the International Writing Program, 430 N. Clinton Street, Iowa City, IA 52242-2020, USA.
International Writing Program Nomination Form (May be filled out and attached to an email.)
Criteria for Selection
- The candidate must be primarily a writer of fiction, poetry, drama, or screenplays. Literary translators and writers of non-fiction (literary criticism, cultural commentary, history, biography, memoir, journalism) are acceptable, but the IWP would prefer that they have a strong link with, or published work in, one of the creative genres.
- The candidate cannot be a resident of the United States or currently in residence in the US. The IWP’s mandate is to bring writers from abroad into this country for the residency, since cultural exchange is facilitated by the participants’ own fresh experience of their literary milieu. Grants are dependent upon the funding agencies, the U.S. State Department among them. There are no funds in place to support writers who are in residence in the US; in rare and exceptional cases, support may be found for writers who are in exile for political reasons.
- The candidate should be early to mid-career, and must have at least one published volume or the equivalent in works that have appeared in significant publications (anthologies, journals, literary magazines) over a period of at least two years.
- The candidate must have sufficient facility in English to profit from a three-month writing residency, where intensive discussion of literary and cultural issues form a significant part of the interaction.
- Some prior form of national or local recognition for the candidate’s literary achievements is a desired qualification.
- The program is looking for candidates who are comfortable with cross-cultural dynamics and are interested in close interaction with other (often highly individualistic) artists from a multiplicity of diverse cultures. At the same time, the visitors are given periods of unstructured time, with their own working schedule on individual writing projects; the desirable characteristics of flexibility and tolerance should, ideally, be matched with a certain amount of independence and the ability to sustain periods of self-motivated activity.