Gallery: U.S. Embassy hosts writers in Eastleigh and Dadaab

The U.S. Embassy’s Somalia Unit hosted a reading and lecture tour, under the auspices of University of Iowa’s International Writing Program. Tour participants conducted workshops with Somali youth in Nairobi and in the Dadaab refugee camps from June 9-18, 2009. Four distinguished writers – Christopher Merrill, Eliot Weinberger, Terese Svoboda, and Tom Sleigh – conducted a workshop in Eastleigh, then spent three days in Dadaab, where they visited all three camps and reached nearly 200 young people.

Refugee Registration Camp Housing
Ifo Camp Poet Teacher Reads
Student Reads from Work Writers Terese Svoboda, Tom Sleigh, Chris Merrill and Eliot Weinberger conduct a workshop with youth in Dadaab.
Eliot Weinberger Tom Sleigh with Sudents
Writers in a Café

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  • We regret the passing, on April 11, 2024, of the distinguished Romanian author and critic Dan Cristea, who served as the editor in chief of the Luceafărul de Dimineață cultural monthly. In addition to being an alum of the 1985 Fall Residency, Cristea received his PhD in Comparative Literature at the University of Iowa.

  • Our congratulations to 1986 Fall Residency writer Kwame Dawes, who has been named the new poet laureate of Jamaica.

  • Congratulations to our colleagues Jennifer Croft and Aron Aji, who are among those serving as judges for the National Book Awards this year, in their case in the category of translated literature.

  • Ranjit Hoskote’s speech at the 2024 Goa Literary Festival addresses the current situation in Gaza.

  • In NY Times, Bina Shah worries about the state of Pakistani—and American—democracy.

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