IWP @ 40: Some images

For a new show "Creative Writing @ Iowa" which opened in the Old Capitol museum on Paul Engle's birthday, October 12, the curators asked a handful of writers for a picture of their writing space. Here are some among them.

Mani Rao (b. India 1965, r. Hong Kong 1993-) is a poet, and the author of Echolocation, Salt, The Last Beach, Living Shadows, Catapult Season and Wingspan. "Cuntree" is around her own experience of immigration to Hong Kong in 1993. "Writing to Stop" is about where she is. Her texture's density comes from how she locates herself, it is a play -- of sound, voice, and perspective. And some of her play in public spaces like cafe windows and toilets can be seen on http://www.manirao.com.

Ameena Hussein (editor, publisher, fiction and non-fiction writer; b. 1964, Sri Lanka), a consultant for several international human rights NGOís, has published two short-story collections, Zillij and Fifteen. In 2003 she co-founded the Perera-Hussein Publishing House (http://www.ph-books.com) 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.

Lidija Dimkovska (poet, novelist, essayist, translator; b.1971, Macedonia; r. Slovenia) 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 ìStale Popovî 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.

Laila Neihoum (journalist, poet, editor, translator; b. 1961, Libya) contributes to many of Libyaís 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.

Dilip Purushottam Chitre (born 1938) is one of the foremost Indian writers and critics to emerge in the post Independence era. Apart from being a very important bilingual writer, writing in Marathi and English, he is also a painter and filmmaker. More at Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dilip_Chitre

Man-sik LEE (poet, Korea; b. 1953) has written extensively on deconstruction as literary theory, and his translation of Jonathan Culler's On Deconstruction was selected as one of Korea's Best Scholarly Books of 1998. He has published two poetry collections: God's Baseball Game Ticket (1997) and On Poetry (1994). The Korean Culture and Arts Foundation and the University of Iowa are supporting his participation. His name is pronounced [mahn sheek lee].

Christopher Merrill has published four collections of poetry, including Brilliant Water and Watch Fire, for which he received the Peter I. B. Lavan Younger Poets Award from the Academy of American Poets; translations of Aleš Debeljak’s Anxious Moments and The City and the Child; several edited volumes, among them, The Forgotten Language: Contemporary Poets and Nature and From the Faraway Nearby: Georgia O’Keeffe as Icon; and four books of nonfiction, The Grass of Another Country: A Journey Through the World of Soccer, The Old Bridge: The Third Balkan War and the Age of the Refugee, Only the Nails Remain: Scenes from the Balkan Wars, and Things of the Hidden God: Journey to the Holy Mountain. His work has been translated into twenty languages. He has held the William H. Jenks Chair in Contemporary Letters at the College of the Holy Cross, and now directs the International Writing Program at The University of Iowa.

Mohamed Magani (novelist, essayist, fiction writer; Algeria) won the Grand Prix Littéraire International de la Ville d'Alger, and his works have been translated into German, Italian and English. From 1995-2000 he was a writer-in-exile in Berlin at the invitation of the International Parliament of Writers and the city of Berlin. He founded the Algerian PEN Club and is a Board member of International PEN.