IOWA CITY—The University of Iowa’s International Writing Program (IWP) has received a $250,000 donation in response to the U.S. Department of State’s termination of all grants to the program on Feb. 26. 

Hugh F. Culverhouse Jr., an investor and lawyer from Sarasota, Florida, made the gift and is challenging the IWP’s supporters to match his giving. Culverhouse, who has made donations to various causes across the country, has a history of providing funds to under-resourced arts and community organizations.

The U.S. Department of State notified the IWP that its grants through the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, totaling nearly $1 million, would be terminated because they “no longer effectuate agency priorities” nor align with “agency priorities and national interest.” The loss of funding forced the IWP to cancel programs and significantly scale back its fall residency. 

“I am so very grateful to Mr. Culverhouse for giving us the chance to build a bridge to a sustainable future,” said IWP Director Christopher Merrill. “We look forward not only to welcoming a larger than planned cohort of distinguished poets and writers to our Fall Residency, but to exploring new ways of understanding what their role may be in our changing world.”

In addition to the gift and any matching donations, Merrill said the IWP will work to develop creative programming that will help sustain the program in the absence of federal funds.

The IWP’s Fall Residency is an 11-week program that brings established international writers to the UI campus, providing them with time to produce literary work, while also introducing the social and cultural fabrics of the United States. The experience enables them to take part in American university life and creates opportunities for them to contribute to literature courses both at the UI and across the country.

Founded in 1967, the IWP has hosted more than 1,600 writers from 160 countries at the UI, including three Nobel Laureates in Literature. The program provides time and space for writers to conduct research, start or complete new books, and share their work in classrooms and other venues.

For more information or inquiries please email Christopher Merrill at christopher-merrill@uiowa.edu. To read more about the loss of funding, please see the Feb. 26 announcement.