(坂上 弘, Sakagami Hiroshi, 13 February 1936 – 16 August 2021)
2004 Resident
critic, poet, publisher, translator
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.
2004 Resident
non-fiction writer, poet, publisher
(poet, essayist, publisher; b. 1959, India) is a multifaceted writer and a well-established poet in the Malayalam language. He has translated his own poems from Malayalam into English and published two collections each in Malayalam and in English, in addition to a collection of essays in Malayalam on literary and cultural issues. His English-language poetry is represented in various anthologies such as the The Promise of the Rest (UK), Midnight's Grandchildren (Macedonia), The Green Dragon (South Africa) and The Brink (India). His poetry has been translated into Italian, Macedonian, Bulgarian, Rumanian, Tamil, Hindi Telugu, Kannada, and Marathi. He writes bi-weekly columns in "The New Indian Express" and "The Hindu," and is the editor of Yeti Books, the first international imprint from Kerala. Mr. Thachompoyil is participating courtesy of the Department of State.
2005 Resident
fiction writer, publisher
. A co-founder of the union of freelance journalists, she was banned from writing in 1994, succeeding nonetheless in completing a black book on corruption in the Suharto regime. Her debut novel Saman (1998) treats freely love and sexuality, and addresses the difficult relationship between Muslims, Christians and the Chinese minority. It received the prize for the best Indonesian novel in 1998, with a companion novel Larung coming out in 2001. Both have been published in Dutch. Since 1998 Utami has been a radio host and co-publisher of the cultural magazine Kalam. She participates courtesy of the Freeman Foundation.
2005 Resident
editor, fiction writer, non-fiction writer, publisher
, a consultant for several international human rights NGO’s, has published two short-story collections, Zillij and Fifteen. In 2003 she co-founded the Perera-Hussein Publishing House to present emerging and established Sri Lankan writers. She edits Nethra, a journal published by the International Centre for Ethnic Studies, which addresses issues of violence, governance, and development. Ms. Hussein, now at work on a novel, participates courtesy of the US Department of State.
2007 40th Anniversary Guest
non-fiction writer, publisher, scholar, translator
Russell Valentino is an associate professor of Russian and Comparative Literature and the director of the Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies at the University of Iowa. His books include Vicissitudes of Genre in the Russian Novel; Persuasion and Rhetoric, translated, with an introduction and commentary, from the Italian of Carlo Michelstaedter; Materada, translated from the Italian of Fulvio Tomizza; and Between Exile and Asylum: An Eastern Epistolary, translated from the Croatian of Predrag Matvejevic. His essays, translations, and reviews have appeared in a variety of professional and literary journals, including Two Lines, The Iowa Review, Slavic Review, The Russian Review, The Bloomsbury Review, 91st Meridian, and eXchanges. He is the founder and editor-in-chief of Autumn Hill Books, an Iowa City-based press devoted to publishing literary translations in English.
2007 40th Anniversary Guest
journalist, non-fiction writer, publisher
was born in San Luís Jilotepeque, Jalapa, Guatemala, in 1954. At the age of 7 he was taught the art of tailoring by his uncles, and from his maternal grandmother he learned Mayan mythology and a long list of refrains and sayings. He graduated as a teacher from INCAV, and in the early 1980s studied fashion merchandising in Salt Lake City, Utah. In 2000 he published the book Nostalgia. At present he is the director and publisher of El Heraldo Hispano, a biweekly Spanish newspaper with a circulation of 6,000 distributed in 26 towns in Iowa and Illinois. Father of nine and grandfather of six, he has resided in Mount Pleasant, Iowa since September 1999. In 2006 he was named by former Governor Thomas Vilsack to serve as a commissioner on the Iowa Commission of Latino Affairs.
2007 40th Anniversary Guest
editor, publisher, translator
graduated with an MFA in Literary Translation from the University of Iowa and is currently managing editor of Zephyr Press, co-director of the series Adventures in Poetry, and translation editor for the Zoland Poetry annual. His translations from the Russian include Dmitrii Prigov’s 50 Drops of Blood in an Absorbent Medium (Ugly Duckling Presse) and the forthcoming Eccentric Circles: Selected Prose of Venedikt Erofeev (Twisted Spoon Press). He also edited Bei Dao’s first two books of essays, Blue House (Zephyr Press) and Midnight’s Gate (New Directions).
2007 40th Anniversary Guest
publisher
is the director of Open Letter, a new publishing venture at the University of Rochester dedicated to publishing quality fiction from around the world. He is also the co-founder of Reading the World—a collaborative program designed to help publishers and booksellers promote literature in translation—and was formerly the associate director of Dalkey Archive Press.
2014 Resident
fiction writer, poet, publisher, translator
MYAY HMONE LWIN (poet, fiction writer, translator; Burma/Myanmar) is the author of the poetry collection Se ma lar [Wanna Ride?] (2010), the short story collection Yangon tayeiksanyone mha pyan yaggaun lootnay [An Otter Sneaked Out From the Yangon Zoo] (2014), and the novels Nhit phie da pine [One By Two 1/2] (2011), Khu (2011), A yate ta kyi kyi [Watch Out Your Shadow] (2012) and Kyat sar ko khae pyat nhit pyat ywae ma ya [What Has Been Written on the Stone Can’t Be Erased by an Eraser] (2013). He owns a publishing house and printing press, and is on the Board of Directors of PEN Myanmar. His participation is privately funded.
2018 Resident
fiction writer, publisher, translator
Bayasgalan BATSUURI Баясгалан Батсуурийн (poet, translator; Mongolia) has published 12 books of translation from English to Mongolian. Her English-language poetry collection Rain of the 13th Month came out in 2009; her poetry is widely anthologized. The founder of the publishing house Tagtaa, which aims to broaden gender representation in literature, in 2017 she was named Best Cultural Professional by the Minister of Education, Culture, and Science. She participates courtesy of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department of State.
2019 Resident
fiction writer, non-fiction writer, publisher
Yamkela TYWAKADI (fiction, nonfiction, South Africa) is a novelist, publisher, performer, and the founder of Blank Page Edu, a company that develops mobile apps and board games. Often working in South Africa’s native languages, she has published 15 books; her first, Andingombala Ndingumntu: IsiXhosa novel, is used in isiXhosa classes throughout the country. Ms. Tywakadi is on Mail & Guardian’s list of 200 Young South African Leaders for 2019. She participates courtesy of the U.S. Consulate General in Johannesburg.
2019 Resident
critic, editor, fiction writer, performance artist, publisher
Róbert GÁL (poetry, fiction; Czech Republic), a literary editor and publisher, works at intersections of genres and media. His six volumes of philosophical prose have been translated from his native Slovak into English and Czech; he has collaborated with composers, dancers, filmmakers, and visual artists in performance and installation work in Europe and the U.S. His participation was made possible by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.
2019 Resident
fiction writer, publisher
Shadreck CHIKOTI (fiction; Malawi) co-directs Pan African Publishers, and is the founder of The Story Club Malawi. He is also the founder of the Kenyenyeva ministries, which serves vulnerable children, and of the Feminart Arts and Book Festival. Writing in English and Chichewa, he participated in the 2011 Caine Prize Writers’ Workshop. He is the author of nine books of speculative fiction; the novel Azotus the Kingdom won the 2013 Peer Gynt Literary Award. He participates courtesy of the U.S. Embassy in Lilongwe.
2021 Resident
poet, publisher, screenwriter
MAE YWAY မယ်ယွေး (poet, scriptwriter, publisher; Myanmar) has been publishing her writing in periodicals and collections since 2010. The first volume of her poetry, [Courier], appeared in 2013; [You & I] appeared in 2016. In 2017, she founded the poetry publishing house 90/91, even while working as a digital content strategist and TV writer. Her participation was made possible by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.
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
fiction writer, poet, publisher
Safinah Danish ELAHI (fiction writer, poet; Pakistan) is a lawyer by training. She is the author of the poetry collection The Unbridled Romance of Love and Pain (2019) and two novels, most recently Eye on the Prize (2020), which has since been turned into a TV film. She also contributes to Pakistani newspapers and magazines, and is the founder of Reverie Publishers, whose goal it is to guide the country’s emerging Anglophone writers. Her participation was made possible by a grant from the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.
2022 Spring Resident
editor, fiction writer, publisher, scholar
Abdelaziz ERRACHIDI عبد العزيز الراشدي (fiction and non-fiction; Morocco) is a professor of Arabic literature at Ibn Tofaïl University in Kenitra and the director of the publishing house AlKassaba. Among his numerous novels and story collections are [Body of clouds] (2018), [Kitchen of Love] (2013), [Foreigners at my Table] (2009) and [Childhood of a Frog] (2005). A recipient of many awards including the Al Sharjah Arabic Novel Prize, Egypt's Sakyat Essaw Prize and UAE’s Ibn Battuta Prize for his 2014 travel book [Sindbad of Sahara], he has had his works translated widely. He participates courtesy of funding from the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.
2022 Spring Resident
editor, fiction writer, publisher
Walid HAJAR RACHEDI (fiction writer, publisher, screenwriter; France) is the co-founder and managing editor of the on-line magazine Frictions; Épidémiques [Epidemics], a fiction podcast he co-produced, was shortlisted for the 2020 Paris Podcast Festival. His debut novel Qu’est-ce que j’irais faire au paradis [Whatever Would I Do in Paradise] appeared in early 2022. His participation was made possible by the U.S. Embassy in Paris.
2022 Spring Visitor
editor, fiction writer, non-fiction writer, publisher, scholar
IWP alum Billy Karanja KAHORA is the author of the non-fiction novella The True Story Of David Munyakei (2010) and the story collection The Cape Cod Bicycle War (2019). His stories have been shortlisted for the Caine Prize for Africa Writing; among his award-winning screenplays are those for Soul Boy and Nairobi Half Life. His work has appeared in Chimurenga, McSweeney’s, Granta Online, Internazionale, Vanity Fair, Kwani? , and elsewhere. Among his numerous organizational appointments, he has been the managing editor of Kwani Trust, a Nairobi-based literary network, and the curator of its festival. A founding partner of Saseni!, a creative writing teaching platform, he currently teaches Creative Writing at the University of Bristol (UK).
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