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 short stories; he is currently working on his fourth novel, Don Ivan. His translation of Wambaugh’s The New Centurions appeared in 1992. Cherchesov is the president of the Institute of Civilization, a private educational institute in Vladikavkaz, in North Ossetia. The recipient of a number of literary prizes, he was a finalist for the 2001 and 2006 Russian Booker Awards. His participation is provided courtesy of the William B. Quarton Foundation.
2010 Resident
fiction writer, screenwriter
is a pharmacist and regular columnist for the Egyptian daily newspaper Al Shorouk and the seasonal magazine Black and White. Her satirical novel Aiza Atgawez [ عايزة أتجوز] has been translated into Italian, German, and Dutch, and turned into a television series. The English translation, I Want to Get Married!, is due out in October 2010. She curates the online blog www.wanna-b-a-bride.blogspot.com. Her participation is provided courtesy of the U.S. Embassy in Cairo.
2010 Resident
fiction writer, non-fiction writer
is the Managing Editor of the journal Kwani. His writings have been published in Granta, Kwani and Vanity Fair. He has recently edited Kenya Burning, and is an Editor of the Picha Mtaani/Kwani book project. He has a book of creative nonfiction, The True Story of David Munyakei (2009), as well as the script credit for Soul Boy (2010, Dir. Tom Tykwer). He participates courtesy of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the US Department of State.
2010 Resident
children's author, fiction writer, poet
, from San Pablo City, is the author of two books of poetry, Pag-aabang sa Kundiman: Isang Tulambuhay [Waiting at Kundiman: A Biopoetics] (2006) and Isa Na Namang Pagtingala sa Buwan [One More View of the Moon] (2005). His 2009 novel, Walong Diwata ng Pagkahulog [Eight Muses of the Fall], was longlisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize and won the NCCA Writer’s Prize for the Novel. He has also written the children’s book, Uuwi na ang Nanay Kong si Darna [My Mother Darna is Coming Home] (2002). Widely awarded, Samar teaches Philippine Literature and Creative Writing at Ateneo de Manila University. His participation is made possible by the Freeman Foundation.
2010 Resident
children's author, fiction writer
(children’s novelist; New Zealand) has written 27 novels for children and young adults, published in twelve countries and in seven languages. Recent titles include Duet, The River Runs, and Fire on High. Winner of numerous awards, Hill has also published several plays for teenagers, short stories, plays, and poetry for children in magazines, anthologies, and on radio. His short stories have appeared in The Listener, Landfall, Takahe, Bravado, and are anthologized in The New Zealand Book of the Beach 2 and The Best New Zealand Fiction 5. He writes book reviews and a column for the Listener. He also writes book reviews, and a column for the Listener. His participation is provided courtesy of Creative New Zealand.
2010 Visitor
fiction writer
An Ida Cordelia Beam Distinguished Visiting Professor, is the author of nine novels and five books of short stories, which together have made him a leading literary figure in the Spanish-speaking world. Moya was born in Honduras in 1957, but his family moved to El Salvador when he was only a few years old. During the civil war there (1979-1992), Moya twice fled the country, the first time for Canada, and the second time for Mexico City. His first novel, La diáspora (1988) won the Premio Nacional de la Novela. His third novel, El asco, Thomas Bernhard en El Salvador (1997), forced him into exile. His novels have been translated into French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Swedish, Hebrew, Serbian, and English. New Directions published Senselessness in 2008 and She-Devil in the Mirror in 2009; Biblioasis published Dance with Snakes in 2009. Through City of Asylum/Pittsburgh, he has settled in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and is a visiting professor at the University of Pittsburgh.
2011 Resident
fiction writer, non-fiction writer, poet
Joel TOLEDO (poet, fiction writer, nonfiction writer; Philippines) is the literary editor at The Philippine Free Press and a professor of literature at Miriam College. His reviews and columns have been featured in newspapers and magazines including The Philippine Star and The Manila Times; his creative work has appeared, among other places, in Rogue Poetry Review, Washington Square, Sunday Times Magazine, and P.E.N. 50th Anniversary Anthology of Poetry in English. He is the author of four books of poetry, including Chiaroscuro (2008) and The Long Lost Startle (2009), the children's book Pedro and the Lifeforce (1997), and of the screenplays for Todo Todo Teros and Philippine Bliss, screened at the 2007 Rotterdam Film Festival. Among his awards is the 2005 Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Award for Literature for the collection What Little I Know of Luminosity, while Chiaroscuro was a finalist for the 2008 Philippines National Book Award for Poetry. A fifth poetry collection is due out this year. He participates courtesy of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.
2011 Resident
fiction writer
Pilar QUINTANA (novelist, fiction writer; Colombia) is the author of three novels, including Cosquillas en la lengua [Tickles in the Tongue] and Conspiración iguana [Iguana Conspiracy]; an excerpt from Coleccionistas de polvos raros [Collectors of Weird Screws] appeared in em>Gargoyle in 2011. Her short stories have appeared in magazines and anthologies across Latin America, and in Spain, and Germany. In 2007, the Hay Festival Bogotá named Quintana among the 39 most important Latin American writers under the age of 39. In 2010, she received the La Mar de Letras award.Her blog is "La Manigua." Her participation is courtesy of the U.S. Embassy in Bogotá.
2011 Resident
fiction writer, non-fiction writer
Ajit BARAL (fiction writer, nonfiction writer; Nepal) runs a publishing house and a bookstore in Kathmandu. He has published Interviews Across Time and Space (2007), a collection of conversations with international writers, and of The Lazy Conman and Other Stories: Folktales from Nepal (2009); he is also the co-editor of the short story collection New Nepal, New Voices (2008), and a coordinator, until recently, of the literary supplement Akshar of Nagarik daily. His writings appear in national journals, international magazines and book volumes. He participates courtesy of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.
2011 Resident
fiction writer, non-fiction writer
Maria Sonia CRISTOFF (novelist, nonfiction writer; Argentina) teaches creative writing and Patagonian literature. Her literary pieces and criticism have been published in newspapers and magazines such as La Nación, Clarín, Página 12, Perfil and Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Noticias, Latido, TXT, Siwa, Letras Libres and Otra Parte. Cristoff is the author of the travelogue Falsa Cama [Deceptive Calm] (2005), the novella Desubicados [Misfits] (2006) and the novel Bajo influencia [Under the Influence] (2010), and the editor of three story and essay collections Patagonia (2005), Idea crónica [Chronical Idea] (2006) and Pasaje a Oriente [Passage to the Orient] (2009). She participates courtesy of the U.S. Embassy in Buenos Aires.
2011 Resident
fiction writer
Iman HUMAYDAN (novelist, fiction writer; Lebanon) is the founder of ARRAWI, a non-profit center for marginalized youth in Lebanon. Her short stories, essays, and journalism have appeared in German, Swiss, French, and Arab newspapers and magazines. Her novels B Mithl Beit, Mithl Beirut (B as in Beirut) and Toot Barri (Wild Mulberries), have been published in Arabic, French, German, and English, followed, in 2010, by the third, Hayawat Okhra [Other Lives]. Humaydan co-wrote the screenplay for Chatti ya Deni [Here Comes The Rain], which won the first prize at the 2010 Dubai Film Festival, and edited the creative writing textbook Kitabat alkitabah (2010). Her participation is provided courtesy of the William B. Quarton Foundation.
2011 Resident
fiction writer, non-fiction writer
Oonya KEMPADOO (fiction writer, nonfiction writer; Grenada) has worked with UNICEF and UNAIDS in Grenada and in Trinidad. Her writing has appeared in the collections Trinidad Noir, Caribbean Dispatches, Stories From Blue Lattitudes, and the literary magazine The Bomb. Her first novel, Buxton Spice (1998), was long-listed for the Orange Prize and translated into six languages. She has just completed a screen adaptation for her second novel, Tide Running (2001). She participates courtesy of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.
2011 Resident
fiction writer
LEE Hye-Kyung (fiction writer, novelist; South Korea) taught high school before making her literary debut in 1982. She is the author of the novel [A House on the Road] (1995), and the short story collections [In Front of That House] (1998) and [In The Shadow of Flowers] (2002), and [A Niche] (2006). Her work has received a number of awards, including the 1995 Today's Writer Award, the 1998 Hankook Ilbo Literature Prize, and the Dongin Literature Prize for the story collection [A Niche]. In 2004, [A House on the Road] was honored with Literaturpreis in Germany. She participates courtesy of the Korea Literature Translation Institute (KLTI).
2011 Resident
fiction writer
Kgebetli MOELE (novelist, fiction writer; South Africa) has been a theatre producer and creative writing teacher. His short stories have appeared in the anthology Sun Tropes: Sun City and (post-)Apartheid Culture in South Africa and in the Italian magazine Internazionale. His Room 207 won the 2007 Herman Charles Bosman Debut Novel Award and the University of Johannesburg Debut Novel Award. He received the 2010 South African Literary Award for his second novel, The Book of the Dead. He is currently at work on three novels, including Nature of Life and Behind the Great Man. He participates courtesy of the U.S. Embassy in Cape Town.
2011 Resident
fiction writer, playwright, translator
Milena ODA Onetti (fiction writer, playwright, translator; Germany) was born in Czechoslovakia and now works in Berlin as an editor, translator and journalist for Radio WDR, Der Freitag, Prager Zeitung, Literární noviny, and others. Her play Mehr als Meer was staged at the Central European Theatre Festival and at the 2009 Forum of Independent Theatre Groups in Alexandria. Oda is the recipient of the 2007 Marguerite d'Or in Vienna, and was nominated for the 2007 Ingeborg-Bachmann award. Her work, in German, Czech, and English, has been featured in the Entdeckungen 2. Cd/DVD Anthology, Ostragehege, Labyrint Revue, Lauter Niemand, Volltext, and Contact. In 2010 she published her first novel, Nennen Sie mich Diener [Please Call Me Servant]. She participates courtesy of the Max Kade Foundation.
2011 Resident
fiction writer, poet
Alexandra PETROVA (poet, fiction writer; Russia/Italy) was born in Russia, lived in Jerusalem and currently resides in Rome. She is the author of three collections of poetry Линия Отрыва [Point of Detachment] (1994), Вид на жительство [Residence Permit] (2000), and Только деревья [Just the Trees] (2008). Her poems have appeared in Russian magazines: Znamia, Zvezda, and Zerkalo, in English in Literary Revue, Modern Poetry in Translation, Drunken Boat, Guernica, and many more. She has also written a play "Пастухи Долли" [Dolly's Shepherds, A Philosophical Play]. She was short listed for the Andrej Belyj award (2001, 2007) and she has received awards the "Migrante" European Poetry meeting (2006), Belgrade's Festival of Poetry Trceg TRG (2008), and the Torino Festival's Sixth Annual National Mother Language Literary Competition (2011). She is currently at work on her first novel. She participates courtesy of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.
2011 Resident
fiction writer
PHAN Hon Nhien (novelist, fiction writer; Vietnam) is the managing editor at SinhVien Vietnam magazine. The author of ten collections of short stories and seven novels, Phuong has published six books since 2009: the novels [Cold Eyes], [The Joker], [Azoth Necklace], and the short story collections [The Rain Gal], [A Dangerous Emotion], and [Left Wing], which won the 2010 Ho Chi Minh Writers Association Award. She participates courtesy of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.
2011 Resident
editor, fiction writer
Usha K. R. (novelist, fiction writer, editor; India) is the author of four novels: Sojourn (1998), The Chosen (2003), A Girl and a River (2007), and Monkey-man (2010), of which A Girl and a River won the Vodafone Crossword Award for Fiction, and Monkey-Man was long-listed for the 2010 Man Asian Literary Prize. Her essays and short stories have been featured in magazines, newspapers, collections and anthologies, including the Katha Prize Stories Volume 5. She occasionally reviews books for the Deccan Herald and is the managing editor of IIMB Management Review, in Bangalore. She participates courtesy of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.
2011 Resident
fiction writer
Eugenia RICO (novelist; Spain) is the founder of the magazine Multiversidad. Her first novel Los amantes tristes [The Sad Lovers] (2000), was followed in 2002 by the Azorín Award- winning La muerte blanca [White Death], and La edad secreta [The Secret Age] in 2004. Her 2006 novel El otoño aleman [The German Autumn] won the Ateneo de Sevilla Award for Novel, and was her first work dedicated to the cycle of the Four Elements (Water); her latest work is Aunque seamos malditas [Even Though We Are Damned] (2008). Her articles and essays have been featured in Revista de Occidente, El País and El Mundo, and won the 2005 Spirituality Award and a UNICEF award. She is a recipient of the Valle-Inclán Fellowship from the Real Academia de España in Rome. Her participation is privately funded.
2011 Resident
fiction writer, poet
Josephine ROWE (fiction writer, poet; Australia) has worked variously as a lecturer, editor and curator of literary events. Her writing has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, including Best Australian Poems (2005, 2006 & 2010), Best Australian Stories (2010), Overland, ABR and The Griffith Review, and her short story collection How a Moth Becomes a Boat was published in 2010. Her stories have been made into short films and performance pieces, and broadcast on Radio National's The Book Show and Poetica. She participates courtesy of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.
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