An Exchange November 2–November 9
Programming in Ashgabat, Dashoguz, and Mary
The International Writing Program (IWP) sent a delegation including poet, translator, musician, and performance artist Haleh Liza Gafori and IWP Director Christopher Merrill to Turkmenistan for a seven-day Lines & Spaces exchange. Thanks to a partnership with U.S.-based NGO Merrion & Smith, they were accompanied by two rare book conservators from the U.S. Library of Congress. In the course of this exchange, made possible by the support of the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and the U.S Embassy in Turkmenistan, Merrill and Gafori hosted a series of nine discussions, presentations, and workshops in Ashgabat, Dashoguz, and Mary, with a particular emphasis on celebrating the 300th anniversary of the famous Turkmen poet Magtymguly.
The delegation was warmly greeted by the U.S. Embassy upon their arrival, as detailed in this video:
The exchange was bookended by two evenings of literary discussion, which were attended by a combined total of about 80 people. The delegation also gave a series of presentations and workshops at the Institute of Languages, the State Publishing Service, the Pedagogical Vocational School, the Institute of International Relations, the American Corner in Mary, and Magtymguly Turkmen State University, which reached about 230 people.
The delegation also enjoyed two meetings with U.S. Government program alumni and volunteers who are currently active at American Corners in Turkmenistan, as well as the opportunity to provide an introduction to the IWP and its programming at a presentation at the American Center in Ashgabat attended by about 40 people.
Turkmenistan's state news agency produced an article covering the exchange on November 5, 2024.
Delegation
Haleh Liza Gafori is a translator, vocalist, poet, and composer born in NYC of Iranian descent. Her acclaimed book Gold, translations of poems by the 13th century mystic and sage Rumi, was published by New York Review Books in 2022. Her 2nd volume of translations will be released in 2025, also on NYRB Classics. A 2024 MacDowell fellow and recipient of the 2023 NYSCA grant, Gafori teaches and performs across the country and abroad at universities and venues such as Stanford University, Sarah Lawrence College, St Joseph’s University, the Academy of American Poets’ online literary seminars, Lincoln Center, Le Poisson Rouge, Bradford Literary Fest, the Women’s Library in Istanbul, and elsewhere. Her cross-media performance piece which weaves translations, original text, and musical compositions debuted at the New York Public Library. Gafori’s work has been published by Columbia University Press, Harvard Review, Literary Hub, The Brooklyn Rail, and featured on various podcasts including Padraig O’Tuama’s Poetry Unbound and Poetry for All. Gafori lives in Brooklyn and is currently working on a book of original poems.
Christopher Merrill has published eight collections of poetry, including Watch Fire, for which he received the Lavan Younger Poets Award from the Academy of American Poets; many edited volumes and translations; and six books of nonfiction, among them, Only the Nails Remain: Scenes from the Balkan Wars, Things of the Hidden God: Journey to the Holy Mountain, The Tree of the Doves: Ceremony, Expedition, War, and Self-Portrait with Dogwood. His writings have been translated into nearly forty languages; his journalism appears widely; his honors include a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres from the French government, numerous translation awards, and fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial and Ingram Merrill Foundations. As director of the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa since 2000, Merrill has conducted cultural diplomacy missions to more than fifty countries. He served on the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO from 2011-2018, and in April 2012 President Barack Obama appointed him to the National Council on the Humanities.