Special Visitors 2008

Alan Cherchesov (fiction writer, Russia) was born in 1962 in the city of Vladikavkaz in the republic of North Ossetia. He has published the novels Requiem for Living (1994; and, in English, Northwestern University Press, 2005), Wreath for the Grave of the Wind (2000), and Villa Belle-Lettre (2005), as well as many short stories; he is currently working on his fourth novel Don Ivan. His translation of Joseph Wambaugh’s 1971 novel The New Centurions was published in Russia in 1992. Cherchesov holds an advanced degree from Moscow State University, and is the president of the Institute of Civilization, a private educational institute in Vladikavkaz. The recipient of several literary awards, he was a finalist for the 2006 Russian Booker Award. The International Poetry Festival in Berlin noted that Cherchesov, who writes in Russian, “achieves with his work a complicated balancing act as he is on the one hand an Ossetian writer who stands for Ossetian cultural identity and on the other hand is celebrated in the Moscow [press] as a Russian author.” He participates courtesy of the Open World Cultural Leaders Program. Selection from work

Zoltán FEHÉR is Chief Creative Officer and Press Attaché at the Embassy of Hungary in Washington, D.C. He holds an MA in Political Science and American Studies from Eotvos Lorand University, and a Law degree from Pazmany Catholic University, Budapest, Hungary. Fehér has taught Political Science and International Relations courses at Hungarian universities, and has published on comparative government, U.S. foreign policy and Transatlantic relations.

Andrey Grishaev (poet,.Russia) was born in Leningrad in 1978. While a student of computer engineering he discovered poetry, joining the literary society “Young Petersburg, and later pursued a graduate degree in literature. His first book of poems, Bumblebee, was published in 2006; his poetry has appeared in poetry journals, including Noviy Mir; he is now working on his second volume. Leonid Kostiukov, poet and editor, writes of his work, “Grishaev’s poetic language differs dramatically from most of his contemporaries…and is very close to his favorite poet Georgii Ivanov. His poetry offers that unique blend of strength and tenderness that is intrinsic to men...” He participates courtesy of the Open World Cultural Leaders Program. Selection from work

Igor Karaulov (poet, Russia) was born in Moscow in 1966, and began writing poems at the age of four. In 1988, he graduated from Moscow State University with a degree in Geography, but it was during his student years that he joined the literary workshop of the Moscow poet Olga Chugai, where he met poets like Denis Novikov and Filipp Nikolaev. He has been a journalist and is presently a translator for an international law firm. His first book of poetry, A Surge, came out in 2003, followed by Sellers of Spices in 2006. His poetry has appeared in literary magazines including Znamya, Noviy Mir, and Vozdukh. He participates courtesy of the Open World Cultural Leaders Program. Selection from work

Richard KENNEY (poet; USA) has authored four collections of poetry: The Evolution of the Flightless Bird, which won the Yale Series of Younger Poets competition in 1983, Orrery (1985), The Invention of the Zero (1993), and The One-Strand River (2008). His poems have appeared in The Yale Review, The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, Verse, Poetry, The Paris Review, Norton Anthology of Contemporary Poetry (1997), The Norton Anthology of Poetry (2005), and Best American Poetry (2007). He has received a MacArthur Fellowship and the Lannan Literary Award, among others. For more than twenty years, he has taught creative writing at the University of Washington, and for the past several years, he has led the U.W. creative writing seminar in Rome. He visits the UI courtesy of the Ida Cordelia Beam Distinguished Visiting Professorships Program. Selection from work

SHIMADA Masahiko (novelist, fiction writer; Japan) is among the most visible authors and commentators in Japan today. He has published several novellas, including Cry of the Refugee Vacationers (1986) and Requiem for a Conscious Machine (1985), the short story collection Donna Anna and a study of AIDS entitled Unidentified Shadow (1987). Several short stories and his 1989 novel Dream Messenger have been translated into English. Recent projects have included two opera librettos and participation in a poetry boxing match. Most recently, Shimada has published his serial fiction piece, The Idle Prince (Tsurezure Oji), as a cell phone novel. He teaches at Hosei University. Selected bibliography • Selection from work

Shimada Masahiko's visit to the UI is co-sponsored by The International Writing Program, International Programs, the Opera Studies Forum, the Center for Asian and Pacific Studies, the Department of Cinema & Comparative Literature, and the Department of Asian and Slavic Languages and Literatures.

Rainer SIMON (filmmaker; Germany) began his career at the East German DEFA film studios in 1965, working as an assistant director under Ralf Kirsten (The Lost Angel, 1966) and Konrad Wolf (I Was Nineteen, 1967). His major films include: Till Eulenspiegel (1975), based on a film script by Christa and Gerhard Wolf; The Airship (1983); The Woman and the Stranger (1984), which won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival; and Jadup and Boel (1981), which was banned by East German officials and not released until 1988. Simon’s majestic feature film on Alexander von Humboldt's travels, The Ascent of the Chimborazo (1989), was shot in Ecuador just prior to the fall of the Berlin Wall. Simon’s current work focuses on the life and culture of indigenous Ecuadorians. His innovative documentary techniques involve local inhabitants in creating and acting out narratives as the filming unfolds. Known as a documentarist, writer and photographer, Simon also teaches cinema workshops for young filmmakers in Ecuador. Selection from work

Alexis STAMATIS (novelist, poet; Greece) Born in Athens, Stamatis is the author of seven novels and six books of poetry. The English translation of his novel American Fugue, a critically acclaimed best seller in Greece, won the first NEA International Literature Award and was released in 2008 by Etruscan Press. Currently, Stamatis is chief editor of foreign literature for the Metaixmio Publishing House and writes for the daily newspaper Ethnos.

Nailya Yamakova (poet, Russia) was born in 1982 in Leningrad. She was short-listed for the Debut Prize, a national award for promising young writers, in 2004, 2005, and 2006. She writes both poetry and prose, and works in a small Petersburg publishing company specializing in the works of young Russian writers. Her own favorites are Gertrude Stein, Sylvia Plath, Tuva Yanson, and Gunter Grass, as well as Soviet women writers from the 1920s-1960s (Lidia Chukovskaya, Lidia Ginsberg, Nadezhda Mandalstam, Emma Gershtein). She participates courtesy of the Open World Cultural Leaders Program. Selection from work