began his career in journalism, a s the literary editor for the Lagos-based Vanguard Newspaper. In 2000, he won two of the country's major literary awards for his poem, "Another Age,"and for his short story, "The Butterfly and the Artist." In 2001, his short story, "Love Poems," won him the coveted Caine Prize for African Writing. Then his debut novel, Waiting for an Angel (2003), which follows the difficulties faced by a young journalist writing under military rule in a country like Nigeria, won the Commonwealth Prize for Best First Book, African Region. He is currently the African Writing Fellow at the University of East Anglia in the UK and has a new novel, Measuring Time, due out in 2005. Mr. Habila is participating courtesy of the Greater Cedar Rapids Community Foundation and the William B. Quarton International Writing Program Scholarship.
(poet; b. 1967, Oman) is the IWP's first writer from Oman. Mr. Al-Saidi started crafting poetry as a student during his second year at Sultan Qaboos University. His poems have been published in an array of local and regional newspapers and magazines, and some have been broadcast on television and radio. He is participating courtesy of the Department of State.
MAUNG THA NOE is well known for introducing modern poetry into Burmese literature circles in the 1960s. His most recent translation was Jostein Gaarder's Sophie's World. Maung Tha Noe is participating courtesy of the Burma Project.
(poet, literary and music critic, fiction writer; b. 1967, Poland) made his literary debut in 1996 with A Small Male, a collection of poems; several publications quickly followed. Animal Fables, a volume of rhyming poems, was published in 1997, and in 1998, Wiedemann brought forth a collection of short stories, The Omnipresence of Order , which was nominated for the Nike prize, Poland's most prestigious literary award. Completing his banner year was the release of Starter Motor, a book of poems, and Sek Pies Brew ("Cinque pieces breves,") a collection of five stories which brought Weidemann his second nomination for the Nike prize. In 1999, he won the Koscieleski Foundation Prize, which recognizes literary achievement in Polish writers under forty. Wiedemann's most recent publication is Lily of the Valley (2001). He is currently a doctoral candidate in Polish at the Jagiellonian University, and divides his time between Cracow and Grabow. He is participating courtesy of the University of Iowa.
(poet; b. 1939, Japan), a returning writer to the International Writers Program, has published several collections of poetry including Shuppatsu ( Departure ) and Devil's Wind: A Thousand Steps or More . Considered to be an emblematic presence in postwar Japanese poetry, he has given readings at the Centre Pompidou in Paris (2000) and the Taipei International Poetry Festival (2001), and exhibited his photographs and calligraphies at the São Paulo Biennale (1990) and in Strasbourg (2000), among others. In May 2003, he received the Purple Ribbon Award from the Japanese government for his significant contributions to Japanese culture. He is participating courtesy of the Freeman Foundation, and will be in Iowa City in October and November.
Trained in philology, fluent in Uzbek, Russian and English, and a member of the Young Poets and Translators of Uzbekistan, a poetry school at the Tashkent National University, Aazam ABIDOV is an award-winning poet whose translations into English featured the work of Usmon Nosir and Chulpon, prominent voices of the Uzbek intelligentsia. His own poetry volumes include Miracle is on the Way (2000), released in Uzbek and English, and Love in My In (2000), in Uzbek; individual poems have appeared in numerous anthologies. Mr. Abidov also co-edited the Uzbek translation of Muslim Life in America. He is participating courtesy of the Department of State.
(literary critic, poet, writer; b. 1939, USSR; lives in Georgia) is a noted literary critic, fiction writer, and poet. He is a professor of English at the International Black Sea University, and at the Sokhumi Branch of Tbilisi State University where he teaches American literature, the short story, drama, and stylistics. His major works include Creative Development of Symbol (1982), Time and Poetry (1984), Silhouettes (1986), Melancholia and Happiness (1995), Apocalypse Today (1998) and Apricots in Bloom (2002), among others. Mr. Zhordania is participating courtesy of the Department of State.
is a part-time lecturer at the Catholic University of Central Africa and a research officer at the Yaounde Pilot Linguistic Center. A winner of the Literary Prize of the National Association of Cameroonian Poets and Writers, Mr. Akombi's publications include A Children's Adventure into Verse (1993) and Basic Notes on Modern English Grammer (1994). He is participating courtesy of the Department of State.
is a prominent figure in Russian-language literature of Central Asia. His work embraces modern and traditional Uzbeki themes and poetry genres; he seeks to express them in traditional as well as in contemporary, often Western, forms. From 1991 to 1996 he was the editor of The Star of the East , an influential, post-independence literary journal in Tashkent. He has published ten books of poetry and fiction, as well as essays on issues of democracy and national problems in Central Asia. An orchestrated campaign led to his ouster from The Star of the East, and to a publishing blacklist. Subsequently he worked on a World Bank Project, aimed at publicizing the Aral Sea ecological disaster; more recently, however, his dissenting views have made it impossible to find work. His last two books are Rubai quatrains, aimed to give new life to a medieval poetic genre. After a nine-month wait for a visa, he will spend a year at the University of Iowa, serving as the International Program's first Public Intellectual. He is participating courtesy of the Institute for International Education.
(poet, fiction writer, essayist; b. 1951, Turkey), one of the original voices of modern Turkish literature, has been publishing poems, short stories, and novels for more than thirty years. He graduated in architecture from the Academy of Fine Arts in Istanbul, a career that took him to Saudi Arabia, through Europe, Asia, and North Africa. He now devotes his full time to writing. His first book was Unutulmak Tozlari ( "Dust of Forgottenness," 1983), a collection of poems. A book of stories, Ay Gozetleme Komitesi ( "Committee for Moon Watching," 1987) followed, and won the 1988 Sait Faik Short Story Award. His 1989 collection Korku Oyunu ("Game of Fear " ) won the Yunus Nadi Short Story Award, and the novel Soguma ("Cooling Off," 1995) won the novel award from the same foundation. He is participating courtesy of the Grace Piercy Fellowship.
holds a degree in English from Tribhuvan University in Kathmandu, and has been teaching literature and creative writing there for the past ten years. He is also a poet and short story author in his own right, whose work circles themes of ecology. His publications include creative writing textbooks, and essays on English literature and linguistics; currently he is readying a story collection for publication. He is participating courtesy of the Department of State.
is a poet, playwright and fiction writer who won the 1993 Bruce Mason Playwriting Award for Love Knots (performed 1993, pub. 1994 and translated into Italian) and the Hubert Church Award for a first book of fiction for The Wife Who Spoke Japanese in her Sleep (1993). She was a founding member of the Women's Play Press in 1992 and has been the recipient of numerous fellowships and writing grants. Her poem, "The Tank," won the 1998 NZ Poetry Society International Poetry Competition. Plumb's recent works include two collections of poetry, Salamanca (1998) and Avalanche (2000), a novella, The Diary as a Positive in Female Adult Behavior (2000), and a novel, Secret City (2003). A new poetry collection, Nefarious, is forthcoming this year. Ms. Plumb was most recently employed by the New Zealand Ministry of Education. She is participating courtesy of Creative New Zealand.
(poet, fiction writer, journalist, librettist, playwright; b. 1960, Greece) has left few literary stones unturned. A novelist, poet, playwright, translator, and journalist, Mr. Stamatis is the author of five novels and five collections of poems, numerous translations and magazine articles, two opera librettos, and two plays. His most recent works are the novel Theseus Street (2003) and the poetry collection The Closer I Get the More the Future Gets Away (2004). Mr. Stamatis worked as a writer for the 2004 Olympic Games, and is currently the chief editor for foreign literature for the Metaixmio Publishing House. He has also worked as an architect. Mr. Stamatis is participating courtesy of the Greek Fulbright Commission.
attended the Moscow State Pedagogical University. Publishing and writing professionally for the last decade he has made a name for himself as one of the leading voices in contemporary Russian poetry. He is a winner of the Arion Prize for poetry and the Andrey Bely Prize for critical essays. Kuzmin founded the Vavilon Union of Young Poets, since 1989 the organizational hub for Moscow's experimental poetry scene. A long-time proponent of unique and radical poetic voices and an openly gay writer, Kuzmin is a somewhat controversial literary figure in Russia. Currently, he is the deputy chief editor of Column Publishing House, which features works by contemporary Russian writers. He is participating courtesy of the US Congress Open World Program.
has published five collections of poetry. He has won the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Poetry in 2001, and the Centenary Medal for his contributions to Australian literature. His most recent book of poems, The Ancient Capital of Images, details his experiences living in South Africa, Australia, and Japan. In 2004 he also published Semar’s Cave: An Indonesian Journal, a travel account from Sumatra and Java, and contributes regularly essays and articles on contemporary art to Art Monthly Australia. He is participating courtesy of the Australian Council and the Chicago Humanities Festival.
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.
contributes to many of Libya’s publications, including Albait (which she directs) and the magazines Almouatamer, Almajal, and Four Seasons. She oversees the Kol El Fenoun newspaper and writes a weekly column on English-language authors for the daily Al Jamahiriya. Ms. Neihoum has put together a collection of poems by young Libyans, Teseneon ('Poets from the 1990s'), and a collecction of global short stories, Ofoq min lazaward ('Azure horizons'). She is participating courtesy of the US Department of State.
lived in Japan for sixteen years, which inspired her novel The Air of Tokyo (2002). She received a B.A. in Comparative Culture from Sophia University in Tokyo, and is a Ph.D. candidate in creative writing at the University of Adelaide. The Tokyo Journal published her first poem in 1985. Her prose, poetry and translations of Japanese literature have appeared, often in her own performances, on the Australian Broadcasting Commission’s “Poetica” Program, Writer’s Radio 5UV, and SBS Japanese Radio.
studied literature, and now lectures, at King Abdul Aziz University in the Department of European Languages and Literature. She writes her poetry in English. Women with Wings, a bilingual collection for which the author provided free verse Arabic translations, was published in 2003. A new bilingual collection, Prisoner of Poems, is due out in the next year. She is participating courtesy of the US Department of State.
studied comparative literature at the University of Skopje, then earned a Ph.D. in Romanian literature from the University of Bucharest, where she taught Macedonian language and literature. Now she lives in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Her books of poetry include The Offspring of the East, The Fire of Letters, Bitten Nails, and Nobel vs. Nobel., and an edited anthology of recent Macedonian poetry. Her first novel, Candid Camera, won the “Stale Popov” award for best prose work. In 2006 Ugly Duckling Presse (New York) will publish a selection of her poetry. She is participating courtesy of CEC/ ArtsLink. Photo: G.Gross Dimkovska.
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