Shehan KARUNATILAKA (novelist, screenwriter; Sri Lanka) has authored the novels Chinaman: The Legend of Pradeep Mathew (2010) and Chats with the Dead (2020) as well as the children’s book Please Don’t Put That in Your Mouth (2019). The recipient of the 2008 Gratiaen Prize, the 2012 Commonwealth Book Prize, and the 2012 DSC Prize for South Asian Literature, he also writes on sport, music, and travel for major newspapers and magazines. His participation was made possible by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.
2022 Spring Resident
fiction writer, non-fiction writer, poet
Tariro NDORO (poet, fiction, nonfiction; Zimbabwe) is the author of the poetry collection Agringada: Like a Gringa, Like a Foreigner (2019), which won the inaugural NAMA Award for Outstanding Poetry Book from Zimbabwe's National Arts Council. A finalist in several other poetry competitions, she has had her work anthologized and translated. Ndoro, who has a BSc in Microbiology and an M.A. in Creative Writing, lives in Harare. Her participation in the 2022 Spring Residency is made possible by the U.S. State Department.
2022 Spring Resident
critic, fiction writer, non-fiction writer, scholar
Silvia HOSSEINI (non-fiction; Finland) is a Tampere-based teacher, literary critic, and media commentator, and the author of essay collections Pölyn ylistys [In Praise of Dust] (2018) and Tie, totuus ja kuolema [The Way, The Truth, and Death] (2021). Hosseini was awarded the Kalevi Jäntti Prize and has been nominated for both the Helsingin Sanomat Literature Prize and the Toisinkoinen Literature Prize. She participates courtesy of an anonymous donor.
2022 Spring Resident
fiction writer, scholar, translator
Angel IGOV Ангел Игов (novelist, translator, scholar; Bulgaria). teaches English literature and Translation at Sofia University. He is the author of three novels, among them Фини прахови частици [Particulate Matter] (2017), shortlisted for the Novel of the Year Award; Кротките [The Meek] (2015), whose German translation shared the 2020 HKW International Literary Prize; Кратка повест за срама (2011), appearing in the US as A Short Tale of Shame (2013); and two collections of short stories. Igov translates contemporary British and American prose and poetry. His participation was made possible by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.
2022 Spring Resident
fiction writer
Jidanun LUEANGPIANSAMUT จิดานันท์ เหลืองเพียรสมุท (fiction writer; Thailand) has published more than 20 novels, largely in the sci-fi and romance genres. The youngest-ever winner, in 2017, of the Southeast Asian Writers Award, she specializes in dystopian and LGBT themes, and YA literature. Her novel เฟื่องนคร [City of Stars] has been translated into English and Chinese, and will be the basis of a TV series. Her participation was made possible by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.
2022 Spring Resident
editor, fiction writer, publisher, scholar
Abdelaziz ERRACHIDI عبد العزيز الراشدي (fiction and non-fiction; Morocco) is a professor of Arabic literature at Ibn Tofaïl University in Kenitra and the director of the publishing house AlKassaba. Among his numerous novels and story collections are [Body of clouds] (2018), [Kitchen of Love] (2013), [Foreigners at my Table] (2009) and [Childhood of a Frog] (2005). A recipient of many awards including the Al Sharjah Arabic Novel Prize, Egypt's Sakyat Essaw Prize and UAE’s Ibn Battuta Prize for his 2014 travel book [Sindbad of Sahara], he has had his works translated widely. He participates courtesy of funding from the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.
2022 Spring Resident
editor, fiction writer, publisher
Walid HAJAR RACHEDI (fiction writer, publisher, screenwriter; France) is the co-founder and managing editor of the on-line magazine Frictions; Épidémiques [Epidemics], a fiction podcast he co-produced, was shortlisted for the 2020 Paris Podcast Festival. His debut novel Qu’est-ce que j’irais faire au paradis [Whatever Would I Do in Paradise] appeared in early 2022. His participation was made possible by the U.S. Embassy in Paris.
2022 Spring Visitor
fiction writer, journalist, scholar
VISITOR:
Beaudelaine PIERRE, journalist, scholar, and novelist, writes about her native Haiti and her adopted Youwès. She is the author of You May Have the Suitcase Now (2021) and the co-editor of the trilingual anthology How to Write an Earthquake / Comment écrire et quoi écrire / Mou pou 12 Janvyé (2011). Her debut novel Testaman appeared in 2002, followed by La Nėgresse de Saint Domingue (2010) and L'enfant qui voulait devenir président (2012). A 2007 alum of the International Writing Program, she is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor at Saint Catherine University in Saint-Paul Minnesota.
2022 Spring Visitor
editor, fiction writer, non-fiction writer, publisher, scholar
IWP alum Billy Karanja KAHORA is the author of the non-fiction novella The True Story Of David Munyakei (2010) and the story collection The Cape Cod Bicycle War (2019). His stories have been shortlisted for the Caine Prize for Africa Writing; among his award-winning screenplays are those for Soul Boy and Nairobi Half Life. His work has appeared in Chimurenga, McSweeney’s, Granta Online, Internazionale, Vanity Fair, Kwani? , and elsewhere. Among his numerous organizational appointments, he has been the managing editor of Kwani Trust, a Nairobi-based literary network, and the curator of its festival. A founding partner of Saseni!, a creative writing teaching platform, he currently teaches Creative Writing at the University of Bristol (UK).
2023 Resident
fiction writer, performance artist
Kevin CHEN 陳思宏 (novelist; Taiwan) started his career as a stage and screen actor. He is also the author of ten novels and short story collections, which have garnered him several literary awards in Taiwan. Ghost Town, in Darryl Sterk’s translation, among Library Journal’s Best Books of World Literature 2022, was longlisted for PEN’s 2023 Translation Prize and will be translated into 11 languages. Chen lives in Berlin, where he long was foreign correspondent for Taiwanese tv. His participation was made possible by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.
2023 Resident
editor, fiction writer, poet, publisher, translator
Senka MARIĆ (poet, novelist, essayist, editor; Bosnia-Herzegovina) is the author of three books of poetry, most recently Do smrti naredne [ Until the next death] (2016) and the novels Kintsugi tijela (2018) and Gravitacije (2021), translated into English as Body Kintsugi and Gravities, and to several other languages. The former received the 2018 Meša Selimović Award for best novel in BiH, Serbia, Croatia and Montenegro, the English PEN Translates Award 2022, and was shortlisted for the 2023 EBRD Literature Prize; Gravitacije won the 2022 Štefica Cvek Award for feminist writing. Marić often participates in European literary events, teaches writing workshops, and is the editor-in-chief of the online literary magazine Strane.ba. Her participation was made possible by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the US Department of State.
2023 Resident
editor, fiction writer, journalist, non-fiction writer
Marina PORCELLI (fiction writer, essayist; Argentina) is the author of the novella Cuaderno de invierno [ A Winter Notebook] (2021), a collection of essays on gender Nausica. Viaje al otro lado de la otredad [Nausicaa. Journey to the Other Side of Otherness] (2021), the story collections La cacería [The Hunt] (2016) and De la noche rota [Of the Broken Night] (2009/2021), and others. Her work has garnered her the 2014 Edmundo Valadés Ibero-American Award and the 2021 Eduardo Mallea National Essay Award; she has attended residences in Mexico, Canada, and China. A frequent contributor to Latin American newspapers, she writes the column “Nocaut Lírico” [The Lyrical Knockout] about gender and boxing for Playboy Mexico. Her participation was made possible by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.
2023 Resident
fiction writer, non-fiction writer, playwright, screenwriter
Raoul DE JONG (novelist, essayist, playwright, journalist; the Netherlands) has published five collections of travel stories and four non-fiction novels. Among the latter, Jaguarman (2020) was shortlisted for the European Union Prize for Literature and nominated for several Dutch and Belgian literary prizes; the 2023 long-form essay Boto Banja [The Boat Dance] won de Toneelschrijfprijs for best theater writing, and in 2022 the city of Rotterdam awarded De Jong’s overall work the de Anna Blaman Prize. He is completing his first screenplay and participates in the residency thanks to a grant from the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.
2023 Resident
fiction writer, translator
LI Kotomi 李琴峰 (novelist, essayist, translator; Taiwan/ Japan) is the author of Hitorimai, published in 2022 as Solo Dance, Porarisu ga furisosogu yoru [Night of the Shining North Star] (2020), and Higanbana ga saku shima [The Island Where Red Spider Lilies Bloom] (2021). She is the winner of the Akutagawa Prize and the Minister of Education’s Art Encouragement Prize for New Artists, both awarded in Japan, where she is currently based. She writes in Japanese, self-translating her work into Mandarin. Her participation was made possible by a grant from Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture.
2023 Resident
activist, fiction writer, journalist, non-fiction writer
Martha Cecilia RUIZ (nonfiction; fiction; editor; arts promotor; Nicaragua) has for the past three decades worked as a reporter, scriptwriter, and a host of radio and tv programs. The organization she founded, “Proyecto365MCR,” promotes Nicaraguan women’s creative writing. The author of Familia de cuchillos [Family of knives] (2016), she has also contributed fiction and non-fiction to a dozen national and regional anthologies. Her participation was made possible by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.
2023 Resident
fiction writer, performance artist, poet
MOON Bo Young 문보영 (poet, novelist, essayist; South Korea) made her debut in 2016, winning the Joongang New Literary Award and the Kim Soo Young Prize for her first poetry collection, translated into English in 2021 as Pillar of Books. She has since published two more volumes of poetry and several volumes of fiction and essays; beyond print, she distributes her writing through other media—snail mail, radio, phone, and more. Currently, she is teaching at the Seoul Arts University. Her participation was made possible by a grant from Arts Council Korea (ARKO).
2023 Resident
fiction writer, performance artist, playwright, poet
Busisiwe MAHLANGU (poet, playwright, fiction writer; South Africa) is the author of Surviving Loss, a 2018 poetry collection also adapted for theater. She was awarded the inaugural South Africa National Poetry Prize, has had work longlisted for the Sol Plaatje European Union Poetry Award, and is published in Kalahari, Atlanta Review, 20.35 Africa, Best ‘New’ African Poets, and elsewhere. In 2022, she was a fellow at the Johannesburg Institute for Advanced Study. Her participation is made possible by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.
2023 Resident
editor, fiction writer, journalist, non-fiction writer
Mansoura EZ-ELDIN منصورة عز الدين (fiction; nonfiction, editor; Egypt), nominated by Beirut39 among the 39 Best Arab-language Writers Under 40, is an award-winning and widely translated author of 10 books. -خطوات في شنغهاي [Walks in Shanghai: on the Meaning of Distance Between Egypt and China] won the 2021 Ibn Battuta Prize for travel literature; in 2014, the Sharjah International Book Fair nominated her جبل الزمرد [Emerald Mountain] as Best Arabic Novel. Her writing has appeared, among other places, in The New York Times, A Public Space, Neue Zürcher Zeitung and Granta. She is the managing editor of the cultural weekly Akhbar Al-Adab and, since 2003, its book review editor. A grant from the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State funds her participation.
2023 Resident
editor, fiction writer
Brenda NAVARRO (fiction writer, editor; Spain/Mexico) is the author of the novels Casas Vacías, published in English as Empty Houses (2021), which won Spain’s Tigre Juan Award in 2020, and Ceniza en la boca [Mouth Full of Ash], the recipient of the 2022 Best Book of Fiction awarded by Spanish booksellers and placing on the 2023 Premio Vargas Llosa shortlist. Currently, she is at work on fiction “about language and borders within the US-Mexico space of war.” Her participation is courtesy of the Cultural Office of the Embassy of Spain in Washington DC and a gift from the estate of W.B. Quarton.
2023 Resident
critic, editor, fiction writer, poet, translator
Yasuhiro YOTSUMOTO 四元康祐（poet, translator, essayist, editor; Japan) is the author of more than 15 poetry collections, including Starboard of My Wife (translated into English by Takako Lento) and several volumes of poetry translations and anthologies, including Dante Meeting Li Po. His poetry has garnered him an Ayukawa Nobuo and a Hagiwara Sakutaro award, among others. After 30+ years in the U.S. and Germany, Yasuhiro recently moved his home base to Tokyo, where he teaches poetry, organizes poetry events, and contributes poetry criticism. His participation is courtesy the Bureau of Cultural and educational Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.
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