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
editor, non-fiction writer, poet
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 Visitor
editor, fiction writer, non-fiction writer
Ekaterina TARATUTA (novelist, fiction writer, philosopher, editor; Russia) graduated from Novosibirsk State University, first from the Department of Linguistics, and then from the Department of Philosophy. She lectures on social philosophy at St. Petersburg State University, from where she received her PhD. She also works as a freelance columnist, and is regularly published in newspapers and both academic and non-academic journals. Taratuta’s Russian-language publications include works of fiction (‘One Hundred and One Minutes,’ 2007, ‘The General Hygiene of Dr. Andreas,’ forthcoming, ‘Fishes and Frogs,’ forthcoming), and an academic text titled ‘A Philosophy of Virtual Reality,’( 2007). She participates courtesy of the Open World Cultural Leaders Program.
2007 Visitor
fiction writer, journalist, non-fiction writer
Lindsay SIMPSON (novelist, journalist, non-fiction writer; Australia) spent twelve years as an investigative journalist with The Sydney Morning Herald and in 1999 was the founding member of the Journalism and Media Studies program at the University of Tasmania. Author of six books of non-fiction, she currently lectures on journalism and writing at James Cook University. In 2006 she published her first novel, The Curer of Souls. Her participation is partly funded by James Cook University.
2007 Visitor
critic, editor, non-fiction writer, poet
is a graduate of the Department of Mechanics and Mathematics at Moscow State University, as well as the Literary Institute. His articles, essays, poems, and prose have appeared in Friendship of Nations, Independent Newspaper, Postscriptum, Pushkin, Russian Telegraph, Solo, Week, Weekly Magazine and others. His essay, "On American Culture," was included in the collection Amerika: Russian Writers View of the United States. His work in Russian includes a collection of short fiction He Returned to Our City and the novel The Great Country. Currently, he is the editor of the multimedia journal, Devushka s Veslom (Girl with an Oar) and a member of the selection committee of the Debut prize, one of Russia's premiere contests for young writers. He participates courtesy of the Open World Cultural Leaders Program.
2007 Visitor
non-fiction writer, poet, scholar
is an acclaimed poet, essayist, and scholar working across Russian and Scandinavian literatures. He has published many volumes of poetry and translations, most recently The Death of Tragedy, and several books of essays and criticism. Other recent titles include The Ode and The Odic: Essays on Mandelstam, Pasternak, Tsvetaeva, and Mayakovsky; Hieroglyphs of Another World: On Poetry, Swedenborg, and Other Matters; and Writing as Exorcism: The Personal Codes of Pushkin, Lermontov, and Gogol. At Northwestern University, he teaches courses in Russian and Scandinavian literature, film and visual arts in the Department of Slavic languages and literatures.
2008 Resident
fiction writer, non-fiction writer, poet
has published three collections, most recently Kan Pete Achi, Moumachi [‘I am Eager to Listen to You, O Bee’], 2006. Her work has been anthologized in Bangladesh and India, and published in U.S journals. From 1970 to 2004, she taught English at the University of Dhaka. Rahman serves on the editorial board of Kali O Kalam, a Bengali monthly literary journal, and on the Jury Board of the Prothom Alo newspaper. Her awards include the Ananya Literary Award for Poetry in 2004. She attends courtesy of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the US Department of State.
2008 Resident
non-fiction writer, poet
Hu’s most recent collection, [‘The Strength of the Calendar’] was released in 2007, as was a volume of essays, [‘The Hidden Passion in Brazil’]. He recently was named among the “Top Ten New Poets” of China; among his other awards are the Rougang Poetry Award (2003) and the Liu Li’an Poetry Award (1998). Based in Beijing, he has been published in journals and anthologies throughout the U.S., Japan, China, and Spain. Currently he is Associate Professor at the Institute of World Literature at Peking University, Beijing. He attends courtesy of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the US Department of State.
2008 Resident
non-fiction writer, poet, screenwriter
began her literary career by winning the first prize for poetry from JoongAng Daily Newspaper. She has published three books of poems: Can't I Continue Writing the Suspended Letter Again (1989), For the Selfish Sorrows (1995), and Shh, My concubine is (2001), as well as two books of photo essays, The Sea Comes to Me (2004), and The Lastborn (2006). She won the Nojak Literary Award in 2005 and the Best Radio Writer Award from the Korean TV & Radio Writers Association in 2007. Currently, she is working for KBS as a writer while pursuing a master's degree in Korean literature at Korea University.
2008 Resident
fiction writer, non-fiction writer
has published two short story collections, most recently the 2004 bestseller [‘Modern Patericon: To Be Read in Times of Despair,’], one novel ([‘Rain God,’] 2007), a biography of Grand Duke Constantine Romanov, and a children’s adaptation of the New Testament. She holds a PhD in Literature from UCLA, and is a professor in the Department of Russian Literature at the Russian School of Economics. Her awards include the 2007 Student Booker Prize and the 2006 Molodaya Gvardia Award. She contributes a column to the daily Vedomosti and cultural commentaries on radio broadcasts. She attends courtesy of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the US Department of State.
2008 Resident
critic, non-fiction writer, poet
has published two collections of poetry ([’Woman to Woman and Other Poems,’ 1997] and [’Water Wood Pure Splendor,’ 2001]) and two scholarly books (including Language Education in China: Policy and Experience from 1949, 2005). Her other publications include several short stories, scholarly monographs, and other creative and critical works. She has received grants from the governments of Hong Kong and Singapore, and from the Fulbright Foundation and the British Council. An associate professor at the Centre for Applied English Studies at the University of Hong Kong, which sponsors her participation, Lam is currently researching Asian poetry in English, with support funded by the Hong Kong Research Grants Council.
2008 Resident
non-fiction writer, poet, translator
is the author of five collections of poetry, including [‘Relocated Stone’] (2007), which won both the Hubert Burda Poetry Award and the Miladinov Brothers Award in 2007. Madzirov’s work has been translated into dozens of languages, including English. He has participated in writing residencies in Vienna, Graz, and Krems. Among is editing projects are Babylonia, a multilingual literature project, and BLESOK; he is among the coordinators of Lyrikline. He attends courtesy of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the US Department of State.
2008 Resident
editor, filmmaker, journalist, non-fiction writer, poet
has written for the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Manila Times, Philippine Star, Manila Standard, Manila Bulletin, and Malaya, and provides the column "This Blessed House," for a Mindanao-based news service. His first film, House under the Crescent Moon, won Best Documentary at the 15th Cultural Center of the Philippines Prize for Independent Film and Video in 2001; his other films have been screened at international film festivals to wide acclaim. He is editor of Children of the Ever-Changing Moon, an anthology of essays by young Moro writers (Anvil, 2007). His poems, essays and short stories have appeared in ANI 33, Banaag Diwa, and Dagmay. He participates courtesy of the US Embassy in Manila.
2009 Resident
journalist, non-fiction writer, performance artist
Lijia (张丽佳) is a factory-worker-turned journalist, TV producer and lecturer. Her memoir about working at a missile factory, Socialism Is Great! (2008) was published in the U.S., Australia, and India, and is being translated into a number of languages. Other publications include China Remembers, an oral history of the PRC, and Western Images of Chairman Mao, presently banned in China. Her articles have appeared in prominent Asian, European and American magazines and newspapers, and she is a frequent commentator for the BBC, CNN and NPR. She participates courtesy of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the US Department of State.
2009 Resident
non-fiction writer, poet
was born in Tehran before her family repatriated in Armenia in 1975. One of the founders of the literary journal Inqnagir, she currently serves as its editor. The author of four books of poems, Grigoryan has won the Writers' Union of Armenia poetry award for [‘True, I’m Telling the Truth’] (1991), and the Golden Cane prize in literature for [‘The City’] (1998). Her poems have been anthologized in France, and in the English-language collections The Other Voice: Armenian Women’s Poetry Through the Ages (2006) and Deviation: Anthology of Contemporary Armenian Literature (2008). She participates courtesy of the US Embassy in Yerevan and the William B. Quarton Foundation.
2009 Resident
fiction writer, filmmaker, non-fiction writer, poet
is a two-time winner of the Manila Critics Circle National Book Award for The Sky Over Dimas (2004) and On Cursed Ground and Other Stories (2005), and the editor of a number of anthologies and collections of Filipino fiction. He has written four film scripts, including Agaton and Mindy (2009) and Namets! (2008), and directed several shorts. Currently he teaches at De La Salle University in Manila. He participates courtesy of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the US Department of State.
2009 Resident
fiction writer, non-fiction writer, playwright
was born in Melbourne to Cambodian parents. She has published the memoir Unpolished Gem (2006), which won the Australian Book Industry Association award for Newcomer of the Year and was short-listed for numerous other awards, ;and the short story collection Growing Up Asian in Australia (2008). Her work was also included in Best Australian Short Stories 2007. A lawyer by trade, she contributes regularly to The Age. She participates courtesy of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the US Department of State.
2009 Resident
fiction writer, non-fiction writer
. Alongside a job in banking, Rachedi has published articles in a wide variety of French periodical newspapers, including Metro and Respect Magazine. He is the author of two novels, Le petit Malik [‘Little Malik’] (2008) and Le Poids d’une âme [‘The Weight of a Soul’] (2006) and an essay, Éloge du miséreux [‘In praise of the down-and-out ’] (2007). Of Algerian heritage, he regularly comments on immigrant-related issues on television, radio, and other media, and is active in cultural and citizenship outreach programs. He participates courtesy of the US Embassy in Paris.
2005 Resident, 2009 Resident
non-fiction writer, poet, translator
is the author of seven books of poetry. Her essays and poems have appeared in Tinfish, Wasafiri, West Coast Line, 91st Meridian, Fulcrum, Zoland Poetry and many anthologies, with translations published in seven languages. Rao is currently completing a poetic translation of the Bhagavad Gītā from Sanskrit.
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