studied literature, and now lectures, at King Abdul Aziz University in the Department of European Languages and Literature. She writes her poetry in English. Women with Wings, a bilingual collection for which the author provided free verse Arabic translations, was published in 2003. A new bilingual collection, Prisoner of Poems, is due out in the next year. She is participating courtesy of the US Department of State.
won the Caine Prize for African Writing in 2003 for “Weight of Whispers,” a story told from the perspective of a Rwandan fleeing after the 1994 massacres. She has written several screenplays, such as Kit Luanda, Shadows of Silence, and Bokor’s Drum; her short stories include “My Mother, My Muse” and “The State of Tides.” She serves as the Executive Director of the Zanzibar International Film Festival, a non-profit organization that showcases Indian Ocean arts and culture through the ZIFF Festival of the Dhow countries. She is participating courtesy of the US Department of State.
(pen name of Estabraq Alfaraj) After graduating from law school, Ms. Alfaraj became an investigator at the Ministry of the Interior. She also joined a writers’ league and attended seminars, both of which enabled her to begin publishing articles in newspapers and magazines. In 2004, her short story "Darkness of the Light" won first place in a competition sponsored by the prominent Kuwaiti writer Lila Al-Othman. Ms. Alfaraj continues to work at the ministry.
. A graduate of the Lu Xun Academy in Beijing, Ms. Chi has published over 30 books. Her work presents the time-honored practices of her northern village of Mona from a feminist perspective. At the same time, in novels such as [Silver Plates], [The River Rolls By] and [Beloved Potatoes], she weaves fragments of the old and new to show a rapidly changing country. Little of her writing has been translated into English, beyond a short story collection, Figments of the Supernatural, which won the 2004 Suspense-Sentence Fellowship from the James Joyce Foundation in Australia. She is participating courtesy of the Freeman Foundation.
studied comparative literature at the University of Skopje, then earned a Ph.D. in Romanian literature from the University of Bucharest, where she taught Macedonian language and literature. Now she lives in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Her books of poetry include The Offspring of the East, The Fire of Letters, Bitten Nails, and Nobel vs. Nobel., and an edited anthology of recent Macedonian poetry. Her first novel, Candid Camera, won the “Stale Popov” award for best prose work. In 2006 Ugly Duckling Presse (New York) will publish a selection of her poetry. She is participating courtesy of CEC/ ArtsLink. Photo: G.Gross Dimkovska.
debuted in 2000 with The Days of Shaytaan, a novel depicting the void between emigrant parents and their westernized children, and has since written many short stories, including "Little Hamid," which won the El Hizjra Literary Prize. His most recent work, "Nobody has a Program for the Concert of Life," appeared in a collection of short stories from leading Dutch writers. He is writing a commissioned script for a film about derailed youth. He is participating courtesy of the US Department of State.
, the son of an Iraqi Kurd father and a German mother, grew up in Berlin but often visited Iraq for extended periods of time, impressions of which influence much of his work. His first novel, Im Grenzland ('At the Borderline'), is the story of a smuggler operating in the border triangle between Iraq, Iran, and Turkey. The book won the 2001 Aspekt Prize, which recognizes the best German debut novel. His subsequent works, Donnie and Onkelchen, continue to explore the bitter tension, displacement, and violence he observed in the Middle East. He participates courtesy of generous donations to the IWP Writers Fund.
made his Vietnamese publishing debut in 1995 with a collection of poems titled (in English) Man Who Tends the Waves. His work has appeared in several American publications, including Tinfish and The Literary Review, Vietnam Inside-Out: Dialogues (2001), and the anthology Three Vietnamese Poets (2001). He has also written several works of prose, such as Following on the Trail of Pinion to the Mild-Zone ( 2003) and Tibet-Bloom Drop in the Sunshine ( 2004). A member of the Vietnamese Association of Writers and of the Vietnamese Association of Journalists, Mr. Hai works for Viet Nam Television and has thrice received the Gold Prize for his work on documentary films. He is participating courtesy of the US Department of State.
first participated in the IWP in 1994. In his home country he is respected for his willingness to confront Austria’s past in writing that contemplates the last world war’s effects on Europe’s current social and political forces. Opernball (1995), a best-seller in Germany, was translated into thirteen language and adapted for television. A subsequent novel, Das Vaterspiel, portrays Holocaust survivors and perpetrators living in the United States. Currently professor of Literary Aesthetics at Leipzig University, he participates courtesy of Austrian Cultural Forum, and generous donations to the IWP Writers Fund.
lectures on literature and poetry at the Kerem Institute in Jerusalem. A co-founder of a writing program for gifted youth at the Matan Arts and Culture Project, she has taught in the Creative Writing Program of Ben-Gurion University, and in 2006 will be a visiting poet at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. The Stranger and Everyday Woman and The Mountain Mother is Gone are her first two collections; a third volume of poetry, Subjects of the Sun, is forthcoming. She has represented Israel at poetry festivals in Macedonia and Rotterdam. In 2003 Ms. Hass’ contributions to Israeli life and letters were honored with the Prime Minister of Israel Award for Writers. She participates courtesy of the US-Israeli Educational Foundation.
lives in Antwerp. She is a part time lecturer of English literature at the Catholic University of Brussels and a writer of novels and short stories. She also reviews contemporary English language fiction for Dutch and Flemish newspapers. On August 27, 2005 her new novel, The True Story of Clara and Victor Rooze, will be published to coincide with her fiftieth birthday. She participates courtesy of Vlaams Fonds voor de Letteren/Flemish Literature Fund.
, a consultant for several international human rights NGO’s, has published two short-story collections, Zillij and Fifteen. In 2003 she co-founded the Perera-Hussein Publishing House to present emerging and established Sri Lankan writers. She edits Nethra, a journal published by the International Centre for Ethnic Studies, which addresses issues of violence, governance, and development. Ms. Hussein, now at work on a novel, participates courtesy of the US Department of State.
has translated more than forty English titles into Korean, including Raymond Carver’s What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, Lee Chang-Rae’s Aloft, Nicholson Baker’s Fermata, and Germaine Greer’s The Boy. After publishing his novel A Man who Barely Exists (1997) and the collection Black Chain Stories (1998) he received the Dongseo Literary Award in 1999. In the last five years, he has published four more collections of stories, a novella, and two novels, and taught creative writing at Korea’s Seongsin University. He is participating courtesy of Korea Literary Translation Institute.
, lecturer in English and psychology at the Lalit Multiple Campus, is also also a clinical therapist and counselor for trafficked women, and the author of Kehi Maya, Kehi Paridi ('Some Love, Some Limits'), Manju Kanchulika Katha ('Stories by Manju Kanchuli', alongside other volumes of short stories. The poems in her collections Two Sisters and 'My Life My World' and 'Inside & Outside Eyelids', bypass the traditional modes in their layered readings simultaneously of men's exploitative power and abuse and of women's thwarted desire. Ms. Kanchuli is participating courtesy of the US Department of State.
is one of the most prominent directors of the so-called Post New Korean New Wave. He began his career as a stage actor and director, with Hot Sea (1994) and Movie Movie (1995). His move to screenwriting brought quick success: in 1997 his screenplays Wonderful Seasons and The Quiet Family both won first prizes at festivals. Kim's directorial debut was The Quiet Family, which won top honors at the Portugal Fantasporto Film Festival, and was an official selection at the Berlin International Film Festival. His next movie, The Foul King, which he wrote and directed, rose to become the number-one movie in Korea for six months—sealing his reputation as one of his country's leading directors.
received her B.A. in history and comparative literature at Hebrew University this year. She works for an Israeli-Palestinian NGO, ‘Windows,’ whose educational and cultural programs aim to promote understanding, and reconciliation between the people from both nations. She is a translator for Windows’ bi-lingual youth magazine, and contributes articles to the book supplement of Ha’aretz newspaper and the literary journal Ma’ayan. She is writing a novel about life in Jaffa. She participates courtesy of the US Department of State.
. Mr. Liu ’s work exposes society’s bleak side in the fashion of the great writers of the realist tradition. His works are mostly novella-length, the best known of which, Fuxi Fuxi (1987) was adapted into the motion picture Ju Dou. Three novellas were published in English in the volume The Obsessed (Beijing, 1991). His novel, Hei de xue was translated into English as Black Snow (Atlantic Press,1993), and made into an eponymous feature film; Green River Daydreams was published by Grove in 2001. His latest work, adapted for television, is a long novel titled Pinzui zhang damin de xingfu shenghuo (‘The Happy Life of Chatter-box Zhang Damin’). He participates courtesy of the Freeman Foundation.
has published five collections of poetry. He has won the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Poetry in 2001, and the Centenary Medal for his contributions to Australian literature. His most recent book of poems, The Ancient Capital of Images, details his experiences living in South Africa, Australia, and Japan. In 2004 he also published Semar’s Cave: An Indonesian Journal, a travel account from Sumatra and Java, and contributes regularly essays and articles on contemporary art to Art Monthly Australia. He is participating courtesy of the Australian Council and the Chicago Humanities Festival.
contributes to many of Libya’s publications, including Albait (which she directs) and the magazines Almouatamer, Almajal, and Four Seasons. She oversees the Kol El Fenoun newspaper and writes a weekly column on English-language authors for the daily Al Jamahiriya. Ms. Neihoum has put together a collection of poems by young Libyans, Teseneon ('Poets from the 1990s'), and a collecction of global short stories, Ofoq min lazaward ('Azure horizons'). She is participating courtesy of the US Department of State.
, a graduate of Waseda University Center for International Education, has published ten books of poetry, most notably Under the Sun without Character, which received the Rekitei Prize; Distribution of the Wind, which won the Takami Jun Prize; and New Inspiration, which earned the Gendaishi-Hanatsubaki Prize. Known for his critical work, his performances, and his translations, Mr. Nomura is among the most creative Japanese poets working today. He is participating courtesy of the Freeman Foundation.
Yvonne Adhiambo OWUOR (fiction writer; Kenya) is an author, lecturer, and arts curator. Her first novel, Dust, was published by Knopf in 2014, and received the 2015 TBC Jomo Kenyatta Literature Award. In 2003, she won the Caine Prize for African Writing for her story “Weight of Whispers,” also the title of a 2003 volume. Owuor was an IWP Fall Resident in 2005, and returns in 2017 as the Residency’s first Grinnell Fellow. She participates courtesy of Grinnell College.
received an M.A. in English from Eötvös Loránd University, where he now teaches courses on the English novel and the theory of literary translation. While working as a jazz musician, Mr. Pék wrote short stories for such Hungarian publications as Holmi, Liget, Magyar Napló, Jelenkor, and Újforrás. He has published two collections, Barátok és egyéb utánfutók ('Friends and Other Accessories') and Elbújik a fénybe ('Hiding in the Light'); his more than thirty translated titles from the English include Bill Bryson’s Notes from a Big Country and Paul Auster’s Oracle Night. He participates courtesy of the Hungarian American Enterprise Scholarship Fund.
earned a Ph.D. in English Literature from Ain Shams University, Cairo. She has served as a lecturer in English literature at Suez Canal University, and as a language instructor, at Cairo University. In 1995, Ms. Prince traveled to the TESOL Institute at St. Michael College in Vermont, courtesy of a Fulbright Scholarship. Her work includes two selections of short stories, Shortsightedness and The Last Piece of Clay, and the novel Three Suitcases for Traveling. She has published essays on writing in Egyptian and other Arab newspapers and literary magazines. At work on a new novel, she is partcipating courtesy of the US Department of State.
is an assistant professor of Spanish at Loyola University in New Orleans. His scholarly work spans several fields including Central American and Caribbean literatures, cultural studies, popular culture, and gay and lesbian studies. His previous publications are the novella “Si trina la canaria” (1999) and four short story collections entitled Ese día de los temblores (1985), El atardecer de los niños (1990), Larga vida al deseo (1996) and Lejos, tan lejos (2004) for which he received the 2005 Ancora national award in Costa Rica. His novel El gato de sí mismo will come out in November 2005. Quesada is currently completing a book on Central American detective fiction.
is the author of seven books of poetry. Her essays and poems have appeared in Tinfish, Wasafiri, West Coast Line, 91st Meridian, Fulcrum, Zoland Poetry and many anthologies, with translations published in seven languages. Rao is currently completing a poetic translation of the Bhagavad Gītā from Sanskrit.
is the IWP’s first writer from Kazakhstan. She studied Russian philology at Almaty State University and English philology at the Kazakh State University of Foreign Languages. She is an editor at Cosmo Kazakhstan magazine, and contributes short stories to Apolinary magazine. She participates courtesy of the US Department of State.
, one of the first Kosovar women to publish poetry in the Albanian language, teaches archeology and ancient history at the University of Pristina. Her literary work includes seven books of poetry, among them Eternity and Night’s Eye, and the plays "The Return of Eurydice" and "Little Red Riding Hood from the 'Hood." She has served in the Kosovar Parliament, as a diplomat in the Foreign Ministry, and as a member of the presidency of the Democratic League of Kosova (LDK); she established the region’s first women’s democratic organization, the Women's Forum, and co-founded the Democratic Alternative of Kosova. She participates courtesy of the Greater Cedar Rapids Community Foundation and the William B. Quarton International Writing Program Scholarship.
is a civil engineer who lives in Aleppo. His novels include Cancer, The North Winds, A Case of Passion, and Noise and Silence. Of his many television dramas the most widely acclaimed, Silk Market, set in Aleppo during the political turmoil of the 1950s, was shown throughout the Middle East, in Germany and in Australia. His latest series, Al Khait Al Abiadh (‘The First Gleam of Dawn’), provides a frank depiction of the country’s government-controlled media. Many Arab-speaking stations aired the series in 2004, generating praise for its boldness and controversy. He is at work on a 30-episode series about the early life of the Lebanese-born artist and poet Kahlil Gibran. He participates courtesy of the US Department of State.
is a founding member of Malaysia’s foremost political satire troupe, the Instant Café Theater Company. She has performed in many productions for stage, in television; and in films. She is also a promoter of commercial and charity stage productions, and a speech and English teacher. Currently, Ms. Sodhy is the executive director of a musical she wrote to raise money for two homes for special children. She participates courtesy of the US Department of State.
. In translating such works as Beowulf and The Canterbury Tales, and the complete works of Robert Frost, Mr. Strojan has brought to Slovenian audiences an array of canonic works of English-language literature. His version of Milton’s Paradise Lost, published in 2004, has been turned into a 25-episode radio play and adapted for stage. He recently edited and co-translated Slovenia's first comprehensive anthology of English poetry, and is the author of four poetry collections, including Streamers in the Rain (1999) and The Day You Love Me (2003). He is the literary officer for RTV Slovenia. He participates courtesy of generous donations to the IWP Writers Fund.
. His collections of short stories, Trece Circos Comunes (‘Thirteen Common Circuses’), De Ciertos Animales Tristes (‘Of Certain Sad Animals’), and Las Mejores Familias (‘The Best Families’) are ranked among the most innovative pieces of Colombian literature in recent decades. In Zanahorias Voladoras (‘Flying Carrots’) he breaks from folkloric tradition and offers an honest account of his country’s political scene. He is also the co-author of a non-fiction book titled Contar Cuentos a los Niños (‘Telling Stories to the Children’), and writes for magazines such as Escala, Soho, and Gatopardo. He participates courtesy of the US Department of State.
. A co-founder of the union of freelance journalists, she was banned from writing in 1994, succeeding nonetheless in completing a black book on corruption in the Suharto regime. Her debut novel Saman (1998) treats freely love and sexuality, and addresses the difficult relationship between Muslims, Christians and the Chinese minority. It received the prize for the best Indonesian novel in 1998, with a companion novel Larung coming out in 2001. Both have been published in Dutch. Since 1998 Utami has been a radio host and co-publisher of the cultural magazine Kalam. She participates courtesy of the Freeman Foundation.
lived in Japan for sixteen years, which inspired her novel The Air of Tokyo (2002). She received a B.A. in Comparative Culture from Sophia University in Tokyo, and is a Ph.D. candidate in creative writing at the University of Adelaide. The Tokyo Journal published her first poem in 1985. Her prose, poetry and translations of Japanese literature have appeared, often in her own performances, on the Australian Broadcasting Commission’s “Poetica” Program, Writer’s Radio 5UV, and SBS Japanese Radio.
is well-known for his distinctive short films Souvenir (1997), Baby (1998) and So Nyeon Gi (1999, ‘Brushing’), all shown at the Clermont-Ferrand, Chicago and Venice international film festivals. After completing the short Mobil (2004, part of the omnibus feature Show Me), presented at Puchon Fantastic Film Festival, he embarked on his first full-length feature Antarctic Journal, based on his eponymous novel and starring Song Gang-Ho. This mystery thriller, revolving around a Korean expedition to the continent, was released this summer in Korea and Japan. He participates courtesy of the Freeman Foundation.
studied electronic engineering at Ajou University, then devoted himself to Korea’s labor movement, serving as chief editor for two national unions' publications. He made his literary debut in 1992 with “Rolling Stones” in the Korean magazine Creation & Criticism, and several stories followed. After a ten-year hiatus, he returned to writing with a novel, Sihanoukville Stories, and two long essays, “The Sad Shadow of Mekong: Indochina” and “SweetTropics.” He contributes articles, columns and serializations to various magazines. He is participating courtesy of the Korean Culture and Arts Foundation.
earned a Ph.D. in English from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. The title story of her dissertation, "Kyoto Panorama Project," was published in The Massachusetts Review. Other publications in American journals include “Chick Sexing School,” “Movie Dog,” and “Between the Imperial Garden and Temple Street.” She lectures on topics in American literature, and is currently Assistant Professor of English at Keio University in Tokyo. She participates courtesy of Keio University.
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