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
non-fiction writer, playwright
Jamyang NORBU (novelist, playwright, nonfiction writer; Tibet) is an activist and a blogger for Shadow Tibet, Rangzen.net and Huffington Post. He is also the author of three essay collections on Tibetan politics and culture, Illusion and Reality, Shadow Tibet and Buying the Dragon's Teeth. His 1999 novel The Mandala of Sherlock Holmes won India's Crossword Book Award, and has appeared in over a dozen languages. While directing the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts in Dharamshala, Norbu wrote plays as well as a traditional Tibetan opera libretto; he is the editor of, and contributor to, the volume Performing Traditions of Tibet. A founding director of the Tibetan Centre for Advanced Studies (the Amnye Machen Institute), Norbu has edited the Institute's journal of history and culture, Lungta, and its newspaper Mangtso. He presently lives in Monteagle, TN. His residency is sponsored by the Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation.
2011 Resident
non-fiction writer, poet
Tommi PARKKO (poet, nonfiction writer; Finland) has taught creative writing at universities and workshops across his native Finland. Parkko is the founder of the poetry association Nihil Interit, and has edited a number of poetry collections. His own work has been translated into Swedish, Russian, Estonian, Hebrew, and Lithuanian. He is the author of third poetry collections, Lyhyt Muisti, Meri [Short Memory, Sea] (1997) and Sileäksi Puhuttu [Smooth Talk] (2004). His third collection, Pelikaani [Pelican], is due out in August of 2011. 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
SU Wei-chen 苏伟贞 (fiction writer, nonfiction writer, Taiwan) has served as editor-in-chief of the Weekly Reader News, and is now a professor of Chinese literature at National Cheng Kung University. Su is the author of more than a dozen volumes of fiction and nonfiction, including the novels紅顏已老 [The faded years of Youth] (1981), 舊愛 [Old Love] (1985), 離家出走 [Flying from Home] (1987), 離開同方 [To Leave the Village Tong-Fang] (1990), 沉默之島 [The Island of Silence] (1994), 魔術時刻 [The Magic Hours] (2002), and 時光隊伍 [The Procession in Time] (2006), as well as of the critical and essay volumes單人旅行 [The Journey of Solitude] (1999) and 租書店的女兒 [The Memories of Books] (2010). Her academic publications are 張愛玲香港時期小說研究 [Eileen Chang's Hong Kong Period Novels] (2002) and台灣張派作家世代論 [The Influence of Eileen Chang and Her Followers in Taiwan] (2006). She is the recipient of the United Daily News Prize for the Novelette, and the China Times Million Dollar Literary Prize for the Novel. Her participation is made possible by the Council for Cultural Affairs in Taiwan.
2011 Resident
fiction writer, non-fiction writer
Francisco SUNIAGA (novelist, fiction writer, nonfiction writer; Venezuela) was a lawyer and university instructor of International Politics and Law, and served in the United Nations transitory administration of East Timor, before publishing his first work of fiction, and taking on the editorship of Exxito, a monthly economics and politics magazine. He is the author of novels La otraisla [The Other Island] (2005), also translated into German, and El pasajero de Truman [Truman's Passenger] (2008), a volume of nonfiction, Pequeños, talentosos y esforzados [Little, Talented and Hardworking] (2009) and the short story collection Margarita infant [Infant Margarita] (2010). He participates courtesy of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.
2012 Resident
critic, non-fiction writer, poet
Luis BRAVO (poet, essayist; Uruguay) has published eleven works of poetry in book form and as multimedia, most recently Árbol Veloz [Swift Tree] (2009) and Tamudando (2010). Bravo’s poems have appeared online and in print, in Latin America and Europe; group works can be found here. His essays have appeared in a variety of anthologies, magazines, and other publications; he has also published four volumes of criticism. He teaches literature at Universidad de Montevideo. His participation is courtesy of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.
2012 Resident
critic, non-fiction writer, poet
CHAN Chi Tak 陳智德 (pen name:CHAN Mit陳滅.poet, essayist; Hong Kong) is an assistant professor at the Hong Kong Institute of Education, and co-founder of poetry journals《呼吸詩刊》 [Huxi Poetry](1996-2001) and《詩潮》 [Poetry Waves](2001-2003). He has three books of poetry, 《單聲道》[Life in Mono] (2002), 《低保真》[Lo-fi Sound] (2004), and 《市場, 去死吧》[To Hell With the Market] (2008), three essay collections, and edited three anthologies of Hong Kong literature. His work has twice won the Recommendation Prize for Chinese Literature at Hong Kong Biennial Awards and four times the Award for Creative Writing in Chinese. English translations of Chan’s poems have been featured in The Literary Review, West Coast Line, Renditions, and To Pierce the Material Screen: an Anthology 20th-century Hong Kong Literature. His participation is made possible by a grant from The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation in Hong Kong.
2012 Resident
non-fiction writer, poet
Jeffrey Paparoa HOLMAN (poet, nonfiction writer; New Zealand) has worked as a sheep-shearer, postman, lecturer, psychiatric social worker and bookseller. He is the author of a book of nonfiction, Best of Both Worlds: The Story of Elsdon Best and Tutakangahau (2010), and seven collections of poetry, including As Big As A Father (2002) and, most recently Shaken Down 6.3. His memoir, The Lost Pilot is forthcoming. His participation is supported through a grant from Creative New Zealand.
2012 Resident
fiction writer, journalist, non-fiction writer
Milagros SOCORRO (fiction writer, nonfiction writer; Venezuela) is the author of 13 books, including the short story collections Una atmósfera de viaje [A Journey’s Atmosphere] (1990) and Actos de Salvajismo [Acts of Wildness] (1999), and the novel El abrazo del tamarindo [The Embrace of the Tamarind Tree] (2008). Her work has appeared in numerous anthologies of Latin American literature, and she has edited 12 literary collections. She teaches journalism and creative writing at the Universidad Católica Andrés Bello, is the editor of the online news portal Código Venezuela, and contributes regularly to magazines and newspapers. She participates courtesy of the U.S. Embassy in Caracas.
2013 Resident
fiction writer, non-fiction writer, poet
Mark ANGELES (poet, fiction writer, essayist; Philippines) is the author of three poetry volumes and a fiction collection, all independently published. He has anthologized progressive writers in the Philippines in zines including KaMAO (Comrade Mao/fist), translations of poems by Mao Zedong. His forthcoming books include one novel and three children’s books. His poetry, short stories and essays have appeared in magazines, journals, newspapers, and anthologies. He has conducted creative writing workshops for organizations and universities across the Philippines. He participates courtesy of the U.S. Embassy in Manila.
2013 Resident
fiction writer, non-fiction writer
LEE Chi-leung 李智良(fiction writer, essayist; Hong Kong) is the author of two books: 白瓷 [Porcelain] (1999), a Chinese & English bilingual volume of poetry and short stories, and the essay collection 房間 [A Room Without Myself] (2008), which won the Hong Kong Book Prize and the Hong Kong Biennial Award for Chinese Literature. His essays and fiction have been anthologized in 走著瞧：香港新銳作者六人合集 [Wait and See: Collected Works of Six New Hong Kong Writers] (2010). A freelance translator, editor and lecturer, he participates courtesy of the Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation.
2013 Resident
fiction writer, non-fiction writer
Asma NADIA (fiction/nonfiction writer; Indonesia) is the author of 49 books, of which three [Emak Longs To Take the Hajj] (2009), [House with No Windows] (2011), and Ummi (2012) have been adapted for the screen. Nadia contributes regularly to the daily Republika , which named her one of the seven most influential people in Indonesia for 2010. A co-founder of Forum Lingkar Pena, and Komunitas Bisa Menulis, which helps youth become writers, she is also a frequent campaigner in the “Indonesian Women Write” movement, and an organizer of 63 Rumah Baca, which provides free reading rooms for underserved youth. She participates courtesy of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.
2013 Resident
fiction writer, non-fiction writer, poet, screenwriter
ALAI / 阿来 (fiction writer, poet; China) won the prestigious 2000 Mao Dun literary prize for his first novel, Chen ‘ai luoding, which appeared in the U.S. as Red Poppies (2003, trans. Howard Goldblatt and Sylvia Lin). His other novels include [The Silversmith Beneath the Moonlight] (2001), [Empty Mountain] (2005), [Ladder of the Earth] (2008) and, most recently, [King Gesar]. A Lai, who is of Tibetan ethnicity, has also published volumes of essays and interviews, and produced a number of scripts for television. He participates courtesy of The Paul and Hualing Engle Fund.
2013 Visitor
fiction writer, non-fiction writer, scholar
DAI Fan / 戴凡 (nonfiction and fiction writer, scholar; China) is a 2012-13 Fulbright Visiting Research Scholar in the Nonfiction Writing Program at University of Iowa. She writes in both Chinese and English, with four collections of essays in Chinese, and the novel Butterfly Lovers in English. Her work in English has appeared in Drunken Boat and Asia Literary Review. She is a professor of linguistics, and the director of the Center for Creative Writing of the School Foreign Languages at Sun Yat-Sen University in Guangzhou. She teaches one of the very few creative writing courses in English as a second language in China.
2014 Resident
fiction writer, journalist, non-fiction writer, poet, translator
Sabata-mpho MOKAE (poet, nonfiction and fiction writer; South Africa) is the author of the poetry collection Escaping Trauma (2012) and the biography The Story of Sol T. Plaatje (2010). His debut novel in Setswana, Ga Ke Modisa [I’m Not My Brother’s Keeper] (2012) won the M-Net Literary Award for Best Novel in Setswana as well as the M-Net Film Award; the youth novella Dikeledi [Tears] was launched in 2014. In 2011 he also won the South African Literary Award in the literary journalism category. He is a columnist and a journalist, and a co-founder of the annual Sol Plaatje Literary Festival. He participates courtesy of the U.S. Consulate General in Cape Town.
2014 Resident
fiction writer, filmmaker, non-fiction writer, playwright
Bernice CHAULY (poet, nonfiction and fiction writer, playwright, filmmaker; Malaysia) is the author of the poetry collections going there and coming back (1997), The Book of Sins (2008), and Onkalo (2013), the short-fiction book Lost in KL (2008) and the memoir Growing Up With Ghosts (2011), winner of the 2012 Reader's Choice Awards for non-fiction. Her award-winning films have screened at international film festivals. Chauly is a co-founder of Rhino Press and of Malaysia’s longest-running literary platform Readings, and the curator of the George Town Literary Festival; she teaches creative writing at Taylor’s University. Her participation is made possible by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.
2015 Resident
fiction writer, non-fiction writer
Birgül OĞUZ (fiction writer, non-fiction writer; Turkey) was among the winners of the 2014 European Union Prize for Literature for her latest short fiction collection Hah (2012), now being translated into thirteen European languages. A PhD candidate in English Literature at Bosphorus University, she lectures on literature at independent academic institutions and theater houses in Istanbul. Her participation is made possible by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.
2015 Resident
fiction writer, non-fiction writer
Samuel KOLAWOLE (fiction and nonfiction writer; Nigeria) is the author of the story collection The Book of M (2011), and other stories, widely anthologized. He has had grants and fellowships from the Prince Claus Fund for Culture and Development, the Norman Mailer Centre and the Edward F. Albee Foundation, among others. Currently working on his second book, he directs a writing school in Ibadan. His participation is made possible by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.
2015 Resident
fiction writer, non-fiction writer
Yu-Mei BALASINGAMCHOW (fiction and nonfiction writer; Singapore) has had stories appear in the anthologies From the Belly of the Cat (2009) and Let’s Tell This Story Properly: Commonwealth Short Story Prize Anthology (2015), as well as in the journal Mänoa. Her nonfiction work includes Singapore:A Biography (2009; co-authored with Mark Ravinder Frost), commissioned by the National Museum of Singapore. In 2014 she was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize. She participates courtesy of the Singapore National Arts Council.
2015 Resident
non-fiction writer, poet
Mookie KATIGBAK-LACUESTA (poet, nonfiction writer; Philippines) is the author of two poetry collections: The Proxy Eros (2008) and Burning Houses (2013). Widely awarded, she was the Filipino delegate to the 2012 Medellín Poetry Festival. Her work has been anthologized in publications and online, in the Philippines and abroad. She participates courtesy of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.
Find Us Online