Tariro NDORO (poet, fiction, nonfiction; Zimbabwe) is the author of the poetry collection Agringada: Like a Gringa, Like a Foreigner (2019), which won the inaugural NAMA Award for Outstanding Poetry Book from Zimbabwe's National Arts Council. A finalist in several other poetry competitions, she has had her work anthologized and translated. Ndoro, who has a BSc in Microbiology and an M.A. in Creative Writing, lives in Harare. Her participation in the 2022 Spring Residency is made possible by the U.S. State Department.
2022 Spring Resident
activist, poet
Raghavendra MADHU (poet, activist; India) has authored three books of poetry: Make Me Some Love to Eat, Stick No Bills, and Being Non-essential, all published by Red River (New Delhi). The founder of Poetry Couture, a movement to create free spaces for poetry in many cities of India, he regularly curates events at American Center libraries in India and conducts performance poetry workshops for young adults. His poems have been widely published and translated. He participates courtesy of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.
2021 Resident, 2022 Spring Resident
editor, poet, scholar, translator
Fahri ÖZ (translator, scholar, poet; Turkey) has translated into Turkish many British and American 19th– and 20th-century poets, and is currently bringing into Turkish Walt Whitman’s and Emily Dickinson’s collected works. He is the co-editor of a collection of “sudden fiction,” Hayat Kısa Proust Uzun [Life is Short, Proust is Long] (2000), and the author of the poetry volume Meşrutiyet Çok Bulutlu On Beş Santigrat Yağmur Olasılığı Sıfır [Meşrutiyet Street: Heavily Overcast, 15 Degrees Celsius with Zero Chance of Rain] (2019). Until 2017, when he was dismissed for signing the Academics for Peace declaration, he taught at Ankara University. His participation is sponsored by the Institute for International Education, the University of Iowa, and private gifts.
2023 Resident
fiction writer, poet
WONG Eva Yi 黃怡 [fiction writer, essayist, librettist, editor; Hong Kong] is the author of short stories collections 擠迫之城的戀愛方法 [Ways To Love In A Crowded City], 林葉的四季 [The Four Seasons of Lam Yip], 補丁之家 [Patched Up], and 據報有人寫小說 [News Stories], as well as the libretti for Cantonese-language chamber opera [Women Like Us] 兩個女子, and multimedia concert 幸福家庭與狗 [The Happy Family]. She won the 2018 Hong Kong Arts Development Award for Young Artist (Literary Arts) and was in 2020 among the “20 most anticipated young Sinophone novelists” in the Taiwanese magazine Unitas. She is working on stories exploring Hong Kong’s historical monuments, and on texts for performance with music and other art forms. Her participation was made possible by the Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Global.
2023 Resident
fiction writer, poet
Mary ROKONADRAVU (fiction, nonfiction, prose poetry; Fiji) creates stories, poetry, and literary nonfiction inspired by art, history, and science. Shortlisted for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize (Pacific region) in 2017, she won it in 2015 and in 2022. Her work has been published in Granta, adda, and Synkretic, and anthologized by the University of London Press and Penguin Random House; she is now working on a novel. Her participation is supported by the U.S. State Department through its Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.
2023 Resident
children's author, editor, fiction writer, poet
Wesley MACHESO (fiction; poetry; editor; Malawi) won the Peer Gynt Literary Award for his children’s book Akuzike and the Gods (2017). Twice shortlisted for the Miles Morland Writing Scholarship and longlisted for the 2015 Short Story Day Africa Prize, he is the author of the collection A Masquerade of Spirits (2020); his poems are included in the 2020 anthology Wreaths for a Wayfarer and widely in journals on-line. He is an associate professor at the University of Malawi. His participation was made possible by the U.S. Department of State, courtesy the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.
2023 Resident
critic, editor, poet, scholar, translator
Tammy Lai-Ming HO 何麗明 (poet, scholar, editor, translator; Hong Kong) is the author of a story collection, an academic monograph on neo-Victorian cannibalism and two volumes of poetry; a third volume will appear in 2024. The editor-in-chief of Cha: An Asian Literary Journal, the English-language editor at Voice & Verse Poetry Magazine, and founding co-editor of Hong Kong Studies, she publishes and lectures widely on Hong Kong literature and culture, and translates contemporary Hong Kong and Chinese poetry. Her own poems have been translated widely. Her participation was made possible by the Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Global.
2023 Resident
journalist, poet, translator
Iya KIVA Ія Ківа (poet, translator, journalist; Ukraine) is the author of poetry volumes Подальше от рая [Farther from Heaven] (2018) and Перша сторінка зими [The First Page of Winter] (2019), as well as of a 2021 book of interviews with Belarusian writers. Her poems have been translated into more than 30 languages and awarded nationally and internationally. She translates Polish and Belarusian poetry and contributes to the PJ Library program in Ukraine as an editor and a translator of children’s books from the English. Her participation is made possible by an anonymous gift to IWP.
2023 Resident
poet, scholar
Maricela GUERRERO (poet, writer, teacher; Mexico) is the author of nine poetry collections, most recently A río revuelto (2022) and El sueño de toda célula (2018), which won her the 2018 Clemencia Isaura Prize; in Robin Myers’ translation, it was published by Cardboard House Press as The Dream of Every Cell (2022). A fellow of Mexico’s distinguished National System of Art Creators, she publishes widely, often in translation; her creative writing pedagogy centers on eco-poetics and eco-feminism. Her participation was made possible by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the US Department of State.
2023 Resident
journalist, performance artist, poet
Soonest NATHANIEL (poet, spoken-word artist; Nigeria) is the author of the mixed-genre volume Burying the Ghosts of Dead Narratives (2022) and the poetry collection Teaching Father How to Impregnate Women (2018). The winner of the 2017 RL Poetry Award and many Nigerian poetry and spoken-word competitions, he was named a Langston Hughes Fellow at the Palm Beach Festival and served as the Poet Laureate for the Korea Nigeria Poetry Festival; his poems appear in Nigerian, US and British magazines. He participates thanks to a grant from the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the US Department of State.
2023 Resident
editor, fiction writer, poet, publisher, translator
Senka MARIĆ (poet, novelist, essayist, editor; Bosnia-Herzegovina) is the author of three books of poetry, most recently Do smrti naredne [ Until the next death] (2016) and the novels Kintsugi tijela (2018) and Gravitacije (2021), translated into English as Body Kintsugi and Gravities, and to several other languages. The former received the 2018 Meša Selimović Award for best novel in BiH, Serbia, Croatia and Montenegro, the English PEN Translates Award 2022, and was shortlisted for the 2023 EBRD Literature Prize; Gravitacije won the 2022 Štefica Cvek Award for feminist writing. Marić often participates in European literary events, teaches writing workshops, and is the editor-in-chief of the online literary magazine Strane.ba. Her participation was made possible by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the US Department of State.
2023 Resident
performance artist, poet
Aigerim TAZHI Айгерим Тажи (poet; Kazakhstan) is the author of the volumes of poetry БОГ-О-СЛОВ [THEO-LOG-IAN] and Paper-Thin Skin/Бумажная кожа (2019), published in a bilingual edition by Zephyr Press with support by an NEA Translation Fellowship, and appeared among Year’s Most Notable Translations by World Literature Today. Her poems have been widely published in Europe, Asia, and the U.S., translated into many languages, and received international literary prizes. She is the author of projects at the crossroads of poetry and other forms of art. Her participation was made possible by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.
2023 Resident
critic, journalist, poet, scholar
Saba HAMZAH سبأ حمزة (poet, scholar; Yemen/ The Netherlands) is the author of the poetry collections تراتيل عذراء [Virgin Hymns] (2012) and حصتنا من السماء [Our Shared Sky] (2021). She has contributed to and collaborated with many academic, artistic, and media platforms and publications, and is the founder of the Yemeni Women’s Archive, a digital space for knowledges emerging from women’s experiences. Her participation was made possible by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.
2023 Resident
editor, poet, publisher
Ali ALSHAALI علي الشعالي (poet, editor, publisher; United Arab Emirates), an engineer by training, is the author of five poetry collections, a collection of essays, and the novel [The Live Living], which won the Al-Owais Creative Award and a nomination for the Sheikh Zayed Book Award. With long experience in literary management, he currently heads up the Al Hudhud Publishing Group. His participation was made possible by the U.S. Consulate General in Dubai
2023 Resident
fiction writer, performance artist, poet
MOON Bo Young 문보영 (poet, novelist, essayist; South Korea) made her debut in 2016, winning the Joongang New Literary Award and the Kim Soo Young Prize for her first poetry collection, translated into English in 2021 as Pillar of Books. She has since published two more volumes of poetry and several volumes of fiction and essays; beyond print, she distributes her writing through other media—snail mail, radio, phone, and more. Currently, she is teaching at the Seoul Arts University. Her participation was made possible by a grant from Arts Council Korea (ARKO).
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
critic, editor, fiction writer, poet, translator
Yasuhiro YOTSUMOTO 四元康祐（poet, translator, essayist, editor; Japan) is the author of more than 15 poetry collections, including Starboard of My Wife (translated into English by Takako Lento) and several volumes of poetry translations and anthologies, including Dante Meeting Li Po. His poetry has garnered him an Ayukawa Nobuo and a Hagiwara Sakutaro award, among others. After 30+ years in the U.S. and Germany, Yasuhiro recently moved his home base to Tokyo, where he teaches poetry, organizes poetry events, and contributes poetry criticism. His participation is courtesy the Bureau of Cultural and educational Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.
2023 Resident
children's author, editor, poet
Orit GIDALI (poet, children’s book author, editor; Israel) is the author, most recently, of the poetry volume התאומים [The Towers ] (2021); Twenty Girls to Envy Me, a Hebrew-English edition of her collected poems, was longlisted for the 2017 PEN America Literary Award. Her poetry has been widely translated. She also writes children’s books, receiving in 2022 the Dvora Omer Award for [Kind of a Unicorn], and has for two decades co-directed the ‘Sadnaot Habait’ creative writing school. Fulbright Israel sponsors her participation in the residency.
2023 Resident
poet
Guru Tshering LADAKHI (poet; India) is the author of the poetry volume Monk on a Hill (2017). His poems have been published in national and international journals like Chandrabhaga, Sangam, Lyric and La.Lit, to name a few; his work appears in Contemporary English Poetry by Indians, Best Asian Poetry and other anthologies. For the past two decades, he has convened a group of creative writers in his hometown of Gangtok, Sikkim. His participation is supported by a grant from the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.
2023 Resident
poet
Reetta PEKKANEN (poet; Finland) has published the collections Pieniä kovia nuppuja [Small Hard Buds] (2014), Kärhi [Tendril] (2019), Salakuljetuksia [Smugglings] (2021) and Katkaistut tulppaanit [Cut Tulips] (2023). Her poetry focuses on themes of personal and environmental loss, non-human perspectives, and natural semiotics. Among her awards are the Kalevi Jäntti Prize, the Katri Vala Prize and the Silja Hiidenheimo Memorial Stipend; she is a member of the poetry publishing cooperative Poesia. Her participation was made possible by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.
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