Gabriela ROMÁN (poetry, fiction, translation, drama; Mexico) is a playwright, stage director, and actor, whose plays have been staged throughout Mexico. In 2018, Román won the Theater Exhibition of Morelos State and was a finalist for the National Young Drama Prize for her play Iridescentes; Cósmica was a finalist for the 2015 ASSITEJ-Spain Theatre for Young Audiences International Prize. Her work has been translated into English and Portuguese, and anthologized. Román participates courtesy of an endowed gift from William B. Quarton.
2019 Resident
fiction writer, filmmaker, non-fiction writer, playwright
Amira-Géhanne KHALFALLAH (fiction, nonfiction, drama; Algeria) is a journalist, novelist, filmmaker, and playwright. Her plays Les draps [Sheets] and Shams et les poissons du désert [Shams and the Desert Fish] have been published; her debut novel Le naufrage de la lune [The Wreck of the Moon] appeared in 2018; her short film Essebat [The Shoe] screened at several international festivals; a feature film is in development. She participates through a grant from the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.
2019 Resident
playwright
Playwright YU Nick Rongjun 喻荣军 (drama; People’s Republic of China), artistic director of the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center, the Shanghai International Comedy Festival, and co-director of the Shanghai Performing Arts Group, has had over 60 plays produced in China and abroad. He also works in film, TV, and radio. His writing has won him the Cao Yu Script Award and an Outstanding Social Achievement Award at the Cairo International Experimental Theater Festival. His participation is courtesy of the Paul and Hualing Engle Fund.
2019 Resident
playwright, translator
KIM Jaehoon 김재훈 (drama; South Korea), the president and artistic director of the theater company TOC, received his BA from the Theater Arts Department at the University of Iowa. His plays [To Heaven; Our Mental Hospital; Again] have been influenced by the Theater of the Absurd. A translator and lecturer, Kim Jaehoon participates in the IWP Fall Residency courtesy of Arts Council Korea.
2019 Resident
fiction writer, filmmaker, playwright
Santiago LOZA (drama, fiction; Argentina) is author of over 20 plays, collected in three volumes, and of two novels. His first feature, Extraño [Stranger], won Best Picture at the 2003 Rotterdam Film Festival, and was followed by seven features and documentaries; most recently, Breve historia del planeta verde [Brief Story from the Green Planet] got the Teddy Award at the 2019 Berlin Film Festival. Loza participates courtesy of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.
2021 Resident
editor, fiction writer, journalist, playwright, screenwriter
Alexandra K* (KATSAROU) Αλεξάνδρα Κ* (fiction, drama, screenwriting, journalism; Greece) has collaborated with the National Theatre of Greece, the Greek National Opera and other major cultural institutions. Ηer 2018 play Επαναστατικές Μέθοδοι για τον Καθαρισμό της Πισίνας σας [Revolutionary Ways to Clean Your Swimming Pool] has been translated widely, and received a Eurodram 2019 Prize; her most recent play [Milk, Blood], based on Medea, premiered at the ancient theater of Epidaurus. She is a regular contributor to Greek magazines and newspapers. Her participation was made possible by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.
2021 Resident
fiction writer, playwright
Sarah BLAU שהרה בלאו (fiction writer, playwright; Israel) has had her short stories published in many anthologies in Israel and abroad. Among her novels are [The Book of Creation] (2007), [Those Well-Raised Girls] (2012), [Stake] (2014) and The Others (2018; English translation 2021); among her plays are [The Last One] (2004), [Thy Shall Write] (2014) and [Rhinoplasty] (2105). She is the recipient of the 2017 Bar-Ilan University Alumni Achievement Award, and of the 2015 Prime Minister’s Prize for Hebrew Literature. She participates courtesy of Fulbright Israel.
2021 Resident
editor, non-fiction writer, playwright, poet, translator
Habib TENGOUR (poet, essayist, playwright, translator, scholar, editor; Algeria) has published over twenty volumes of writing, most recently the poetry volume La Sandale d'Empédocle (2021). His poetry has been translated into English, German, Italian, Arabic, and many other languages; in turn, he translates poetry from the Arabic and the English. In 2016, that work garnered him a Prix européen de poésie Dante. He also directs the series “Poèmes du monde” for the Algerian publisher APIC. His participation was made possible by the Paul and Hualing Nieh Engle Fund.
2021 Resident
performance artist, playwright, poet, scholar
Gabrielė LABANAUSKAITĖ (poetry, drama, fiction; Lithuania) teaches drama theory and creative writing at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theater. A “text producer,” she works across media, often in collective forms, also organizing poetry and stage events. She has published three poetry collections in CD/DVD format as well as a theory of drama narratives, Dramatika; a number of her plays have been staged in Lithuania and abroad. Her participation was made possible by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.
2021 Resident
fiction writer, playwright
Candace CHONG Mui Ngam 莊梅岩 (playwright, screenwriter, translator; Hong Kong) has, apart from writing drama, also collaborated in musical theatre and opera as writer and librettist. Selected by the South China Morning Post as one of Hong Kong’s 25 most inspirational and influential women, she is a six-times winner of the Hong Kong Drama Awards, the recipient of a Best Artist Award (Drama) by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council, and of a number of international honors. Her plays have been performed on European and American stages, translated, and published. She participates courtesy of the Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation.
2022 Fall Resident
playwright, publisher
Waterz YIDANA (playwright, essayist, publisher, activist; Ghana) is the author of two award-winning plays, “Madman and the Drunkards” and “The Mango Seed.” Nominated for the Ghanaian “40 under 40” award, he is a columnist at The Mirror and writes for GhanaWeb, ModernGhana and other media; he is also the founder of the publishing house Makola Books Limited. His participation is courtesy the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.
2022 Fall Resident
playwright, screenwriter
Almudena RAMÍREZ-PANTANELLA (playwright, screenwriter, director; Spain) has had plays produced in Spain, Latin America, and the UK, and new work commissioned by theatres in the UK, France, and Italy. Los amos del mundo [Masters of the Universe] won her Spain’s Premio Calderón de la Barca for new playwrights. She has screen credits for La casa de papel/Money Heist (Netflix) and has written for other film and TV productions. A PhD student at Madrid’s Universidad Complutense, she also teaches creative writing. Her participation is courtesy a gift from the estate of W.B. Quarton and the Cultural Office of the Embassy of Spain in Washington DC.
2022 Fall Resident
fiction writer, journalist, playwright, poet
Zaza MUCHEMWA (poet, playwright, arts administrator; Zimbabwe) has had her poetry appear at PEN International and Badilisha Poetry X-change and included in the anthology Zimbabwe Poets for Human Rights; author of the play The IVth Interrogation, she is also an award-winning theater director and producer. Her journalism appears in Index on Censorship Magazine, Povo Magazine and elsewhere. She participates thanks to a grant from the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.
2022 Fall Resident
playwright, screenwriter
Ainur KARIM Айнур Карим (playwright; Kazakhstan), a lawyer by training, has won national and international awards for her first play What’s Up, Class 5-B?; The Passport, about political protests in Kazakhstan, was shortlisted for the Lyubimovka Drama Festival (Russia) and its English translation won the BBC International Radio Playwriting Competition. Additionally, Karim writes for the screen, edits, and translates between Russian and Kazakh. She participates thanks to a grant from the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.
2022 Fall Resident
fiction writer, filmmaker, playwright
Briar GRACE-SMITH (filmmaker, screenwriter, playwright, fiction writer; New Zealand) is of Ngā Puhi (Māori) descent. In 2018, she was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for her contribution to stage, television, and screen; in 2017, she was recognized with Te Tohu Toi Kē a Te Waka Toi for her contribution to Māori arts. She is the author or co-author of eight stage plays, a collaborator on many TV programs and the director or co-director of six short films and features, most recently Cousins (2021). Her participation was made possible by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.
2022 Fall Resident
fiction writer, playwright, poet, scholar
Endalegeta KEBEDE እንዳለጌታ ከበደ (fiction writer, poet, playwright, researcher; Ethiopia) is the author of over a dozen novels, stories, poems and staged plays. Among his titles are ከጥቁር ሰማይ ስር [Under The Dark Sky], የቃቄ ወርድወት እምቢ [The Defiant Woman], and በዓሉ ግርማ፡- ሕይወቱና ሥራዎቹ [Baalu: His Life and Works]. With a PhD in Folklore Studies, he has been an arts director at the Ethiopia Academy of Science, and the General Secretary of Ethiopian Writers Association. He is also the founder and manager of the Zagol Book Bank. He participates courtesy of the U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa.
2022 Fall Resident
non-fiction writer, playwright, poet, scholar, screenwriter
Joaquín ORTEGA (playwright, essayist, poet, scholar; Venezuela) works across media and institutions. The author of a volume of poetry and of plays like “Lo escuche llorar en mi boca. Tríptico de Caracas” [I Heard Him Cry in My Mouth. A Caracas Triptych], he has long been a librettist for popular radio and TV comedy shows, and has also published La cultura del milenio: ensayos sobre creatividad [The Millennium Culture: Essays on Creativity]. He teaches at Universidad Central de Venezuela, in the School of Political and Administration Studies. His residency is 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, 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, non-fiction writer, playwright, poet, translator
Tzveta SOFRONIEVA Цвета Софрониева (poet, fiction writer, playwright, essayist; Germany/Bulgaria), a physicist and historian of science by training, is the author of over 20 books, including Multiverse (2020), a collection of new and selected poems written originally in German, Bulgarian and English and A Hand Full of Water (2012), translated from the German, the recipient of a 2009 PEN/Heim Translation Fund grant and the 2012 Cliff Becker Book Prize in Translation. Her poetry has been translated into 19 languages; her theater work has been supported by Bulgaria’s National Cultural Fund. She participates courtesy of the Max Kade Foundation.
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