is one of Uruguay’s leading writers, with work published in the U.S., Latin America, and Europe. The author of three novels, sixteen volumes of poetry, and a prolific essayist, he has won both his country's National Prize in Narrative for his first novel A Dog’s Life (1997), and the National Prize in Poetry for his 2002 collection Frontiers of Umbria. He teaches screenwriting at the Escuela de Cine del Uruguay in Montevideo. He participates courtesy of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department of State.
2006 Resident
fiction writer, non-fiction writer, translator
, a widely read young Indonesian prose writer, has had her 2005 short story collection, Laluba, named Best Literary Work of the Year by Tempo magazine, and her novel Cala Ibi (2003) shortlisted for the Khatulistiwa Literary Award. She is the co-translator for, and editor of several anthologies of poetry in translation. At present, she serves on the Committee of Literature at the Jakarta Arts Council. She participates courtesy of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department of State.
2006 Visitor, 2007 Resident
editor, fiction writer, journalist, non-fiction writer, poet
is a graduate of the Maxim Gorky Literary Institute in Moscow. He has published six books of poetry, two collections of short stories, several non-fiction books, and three novels. In 2002, he was awarded the National Literary Award Altan Od [Golden Feather] for Durlalgui yrtontsiin blues [‘The Blues of a World Without Love’] and again in 2003 for the novel Ilbe zereglee [‘The Magic Mirage’]. He participates courtesy of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.
2006 Visitor
non-fiction writer, poet, translator
Román ANTOPOLSKY (poet, essayist, literary translator; b. 1976, Argentina) published his first book of poems, ádelon ('eidolon') in 2003. His translation work spans Spanish, Russian, German, and English, and an array of genres and cultures. He publishes in literary journals and periodicals in Argentina and throughout Latin America (Tsé=Tsé, Cronopios, Mnemozyne, Le Monde Diplomatique Edición Argentina, Intemperie, and others). He participates courtesy of International Programs, The International Writing Program, Cinema and Comparative Literature, Latin American Studies, and The Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies at the University of Iowa.
2006 Visitor
fiction writer, non-fiction writer
holds a PhD in sociology from Cornell University, and teaches sociology, screenwriting, and creative writing in Colombia. He is the author of several novels about the Jewish immigrant experience there, among them El rumor del astracan (1991). The MA program in Creative Writing he started at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, the first of its kind in Latin America, will launch in 2007. He participates courtesy of International Programs, Latin American Studies, The Department of Spanish and Portuguese, and The International Writing Program.
2007 40th Anniversary Guest
non-fiction writer, performance artist
was born in 1933 in Sulina, Romania, of Greek parents. He attended the Greek community schools of Sulina and Bucharest before emigrating to Greece after WWII. From 1947-1957 he lived with his parents in a 2,000-inmate refugee camp while also finishing his secondary education and graduating from the National University of Athens. He studied English and American literature at Yale on a Fulbright scholarship, and Comparative Literature, Classics, Old and Middle English at the University of California at Berkeley. Between 1965 and 1996 he taught in the English and Cinema and Comparative Literatures departments at the University of Iowa. He has received numerous research awards, and his publications include books and articles in scholarly journals, as well as performance and intermedia art projects.
2007 40th Anniversary Guest
journalist, non-fiction writer
was born in 1953 in Sudan, where he worked as a teacher, freelance musician, activist and journalist (where he wrote on culture and politics for various newspapers and magazines). He has co-authored a book on traditional Sudanese musical instruments and composed music for two films. In 1991 he went into exile, and lived in Russia and Egypt before coming to the United States as a refugee in 1996.
2007 40th Anniversary Guest
editor, non-fiction writer
Harilaos “Harry” Stecopoulos is an assistant professor of English at the University of Iowa, where he teaches courses on modern American literature, culture, and performance, with specific interests in the novel, cultural studies, and postcolonial theory. His publications include the co-edited anthology Race and the Subject of Masculinities (Duke, 1997) and essays on Stuart Hall and Edgar Rice Burroughs.
2007 40th Anniversary Guest
non-fiction writer, publisher, scholar, translator
Russell Valentino is an associate professor of Russian and Comparative Literature and the director of the Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies at the University of Iowa. His books include Vicissitudes of Genre in the Russian Novel; Persuasion and Rhetoric, translated, with an introduction and commentary, from the Italian of Carlo Michelstaedter; Materada, translated from the Italian of Fulvio Tomizza; and Between Exile and Asylum: An Eastern Epistolary, translated from the Croatian of Predrag Matvejevic. His essays, translations, and reviews have appeared in a variety of professional and literary journals, including Two Lines, The Iowa Review, Slavic Review, The Russian Review, The Bloomsbury Review, 91st Meridian, and eXchanges. He is the founder and editor-in-chief of Autumn Hill Books, an Iowa City-based press devoted to publishing literary translations in English.
2007 40th Anniversary Guest
journalist, non-fiction writer, publisher
was born in San Luís Jilotepeque, Jalapa, Guatemala, in 1954. At the age of 7 he was taught the art of tailoring by his uncles, and from his maternal grandmother he learned Mayan mythology and a long list of refrains and sayings. He graduated as a teacher from INCAV, and in the early 1980s studied fashion merchandising in Salt Lake City, Utah. In 2000 he published the book Nostalgia. At present he is the director and publisher of El Heraldo Hispano, a biweekly Spanish newspaper with a circulation of 6,000 distributed in 26 towns in Iowa and Illinois. Father of nine and grandfather of six, he has resided in Mount Pleasant, Iowa since September 1999. In 2006 he was named by former Governor Thomas Vilsack to serve as a commissioner on the Iowa Commission of Latino Affairs.
2007 40th Anniversary Guest, 2009 Visitor
non-fiction writer, translator
Eliot WEINBERGER was born in 1949 in New York City, where he still lives. He is the primary translator of Octavio Paz into English. His anthology American Poetry Since 1950: Innovators and Outsiders (Marsilio, 1993) was a bestseller in Mexico, and his edition of Jorge Luis Borges's Selected Non-Fictions (Penguin, 1999) received the National Book Critics Circle prize for criticism. In 1992, he received PEN's first Gregory Kolovakos Award for his work in promoting Hispanic literature in the United States, and in 2000 he was the first American literary writer to be awarded the Order of the Aztec Eagle by the government of Mexico. He is the author of three books of literary essays and a collection of political articles, What Happened Here: Bush Chronicles (shortlisted for the National Book Critics Circle Award), all published by New Directions. His essay "What I Heard About Iraq" became an Internet phenomenon, was adapted into a hit play, and read at antiwar demonstrations throughout the world. His latest book is titled An Elemental Thing (New Directions, 2007).
2007 40th Anniversary Guest
editor, non-fiction writer
just left the presidency of Americans for UNESCO; previously he headed the American Fulbright Association of US alumni. He served for 24 years in the Near East, South Asia and Europe with the State Department and the U.S. Information Agency, principally as Cultural Attache in Beirut, Colombo (Sir Lanka), Tehran, Rome, and Paris. He presently chairs the US Committee for the Preservation of Ancient Tyre. His major book The First Resort of Kings: American Cultural Diplomacy in the 20th Century appeared in 2005 and in paperback in 2006; in 1993 he was principal editor of The Fulbright Difference: 1947-92. He holds a Ph.D. in French literature (18th century) from Columbia University, where he taught until 1961. Since leaving the Foreign Service, he has taught at the University of Virginia, Johns Hopkins, and George Washington University. He has seven grandchildren.
2007 40th Anniversary Guest
non-fiction writer
Jane Wells is a freelance writer and producer living in New York. Since moving from the UK in 1984 she has worked for Granada Television, First Run Features, and Circulo de Lectores. She is the founder and president of Three Generations, an organization devoted to archiving and ending genocide. Over the last few years she has traveled to Sudan, Chad, Rwanda, Kenya, Botswana, Uganda and South Africa focusing her work on the plight of those whose lives have been ruined by the genocide. Her pieces about what she has witnessed in Africa have appeared in British Vogue and Diversion as well as the online journal The Huffington Post. She is producer of the feature documentary “The Devil Came on Horseback,” which premiered at Sundance in 2007.
2007 Resident
fiction writer, non-fiction writer, translator
is among the most prolific young prose writers on the Greek literary scene. He has authored four novels, most recently ‘Imaginary Museum,’ 2005; a volume of essays (‘The Language Box,’ 2006), a collection of short stories (‘Napolean Delastos’ Recipes,’ 1997), a novella (‘The Parthenon Bomber,’ 1996), and, with Diane Neumaier, an exhibition catalogue (Encounters, 2003) and an artist book (The black dress, 2002). His work is available in five languages and he has been awarded grants in Europe and the US. He participates courtesy of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.
2007 Resident
editor, non-fiction writer, poet
is widely published in Indonesian journals, magazines, anthologies and newspapers. A founder of the cultural journal Kalam, he has a collection of essays Sanjakala Kebudayaan ('Twilight of Culture') and a volume of poems, Buku Cacing ('Book of Worms'); the poetry collection Perenang Buta ('Blind Swimmer') is forthcoming. He has founded the arts space Komunitas Utan Kayu in Jakarta, and curates literary arts festivals, most recently the 4th Utan Kayu International Literary Biennale. He participates courtesy of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.
2007 Resident
fiction writer, non-fiction writer, physician
has worked as a surgeon in rural areas throughout India. She currently runs a medical center for workers in Maharashtra, and a Learning Centre for their children. She has authored five novels, most recently The Hills of Angheri (2005) and several children’s books. Among her honors is a UNICEF-CBT Award for her children’s novel, Once Upon a Forest. She also writes on healthcare issues for Indian press. She participates courtesy of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.
2007 Resident
fiction writer, journalist, non-fiction writer
is the author of three novels, most recently Ratures aux Quotidiens [‘Daily Articles,’ 2004], which she co-wrote with Gaspard Dorélien. Her debut novel Testaman [‘The Will’] won First Prize in the 2002 Best Creole-Language Novel Contest sponsored by the newspaper Bon Nouvel in Port-Au-Prince. She participates courtesy of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the US Department of State.
2007 Resident
fiction writer, non-fiction writer, poet
works in a variety of literary genres. Among his best-known works are the novels Redang (1988) and Janji Paramaribo (1990), the short story collection Usia (2006), and the poetry volumes Gemaruang (1987) and Fantasi Malam (2007). He is currently at work on a new novel, Daun [‘The Leaf’]. His awards include an ESSO-GAPENA Literary Prize, a Public Bank Literary Award, the Berita Publications Literary Prize, and two Malaysian Literary Prizes. He participates courtesy of the Literary Bureau of Malaysia.
2007 Resident
critic, fiction writer, non-fiction writer
has authored three novels, most recently ‘The Lost Land’ (2005), and a number of non-fiction works. Among his awards are the Hong Kong Youth Literary Award, a Chinese Literature Creative Award, and the 7th Hong Kong Chinese Literary Biennial Award. His fiction appears regularly in journals and anthologies in Hong Kong and mainland China. He currently teaches creative writing at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He participates courtesy of the Asian Cultural Council.
2006 Visitor, 2007 Resident
editor, fiction writer, journalist, non-fiction writer, poet
is a graduate of the Maxim Gorky Literary Institute in Moscow. He has published six books of poetry, two collections of short stories, several non-fiction books, and three novels. In 2002, he was awarded the National Literary Award Altan Od [Golden Feather] for Durlalgui yrtontsiin blues [‘The Blues of a World Without Love’] and again in 2003 for the novel Ilbe zereglee [‘The Magic Mirage’]. He participates courtesy of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.
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