Azhari AIYUB (fiction writer, playwright, essayist; Indonesia) is the author of Perempuan Pala [Nutmeg Women], a short story collection, and the novel Kura-kura Berjanggut [The Bearded Turtle], which won the 2018 Kusala Sastra Khatulistiwa literary award. He is currently working on a new story centered on the Sumatran tiger. His participation is made possible thanks to the University of Iowa’s Office of the Vice President for Research and Graduate College.

Kazim Ali is a poet, novelist, and essayist whose work explores themes of identity, migration, and the intersections of cultural and spiritual traditions. His poetry is known for its lyrical and expressive language, as well as its exploration of themes such as love, loss, and the search for meaning in a rapidly changing world. "Sukun" means serenity or calm, and a sukun is also a form of punctuation in Arabic orthography that denotes a pause over a consonant. This Sukun draws a generous selection from Kazim's six previous full-length collections, and includes 35 new poems. It allows us to trace Ali's passions and concerns, and take the measure of his art: the close attention to the spiritual and the visceral, and the deep language play that is both musical and plain spoken. 

Rajaa ALSANEA الصانع رجاء (novelist, endodontist; Saudi Arabia) is known for her debut novel Girls of Riyadh, recently dramatized by BBC Radio. Translated into 30+ languages and a bestseller in Europe and the Middle East, it was nominated for the 2009 International Dublin Literary Award. Widely studied in academia, it has inspired extensive scholarly research. Alsanea was named Cultural Figure of the Year (Al Arabiya, 2008) and one of Forbes ME’s 40 Most Influential Arabs Under 40 (2017). She is currently a full-time clinician, Clinical Professor and Head of Endodontics in Riyadh. Her participation is made possible by an anonymous gift to the IWP.

Ikram BASRA (poet, playwright, and journalist; Pakistan) currently based in Iowa City, where he works as a Literary Specialist at the International Writing Program, University of Iowa. His latest book of Urdu ghazals and poems was published in February 2025 by Sanjh Publishers in Lahore. A graduate of the University of Iowa’s Playwrights Workshop (2021), he spent three years teaching playwriting and screenwriting as adjunct professor at the university. His acclaimed play The Job was showcased at the Global Empathy Conference in Adelaide, Australia, and is now part of the playwriting syllabus at both O.M. Beketov National University in Ukraine and The University of Iowa. Before settling in the U.S., Ikram worked in both print and electronic media across Pakistan and America, earning national recognition with a first‑place award from the Association for Alternative Newsmedia in Washington, D.C. (2021).

Agnes CHEW 周昀蒨 (fiction and nonfiction writer; Singapore) is the author of the fiction collection, Eternal Summer of My Homeland (2023), which was longlisted for The Asian Prize for Fiction, shortlisted for the POPULAR Readers’ Choice Award, and a national bestseller in Singapore; and the essay collection, The Desire for Elsewhere (2016). Her fiction has won the 2023 Commonwealth Short Story Prize (Asia), and has been published or is forthcoming in Granta, Necessary Fiction, and Best New Singaporean Short Stories, among others. She has received scholarships from the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, Tin House, Granta Writers’ Workshop, and more. She is currently working on her first novel, which has been longlisted for the 2025 Goldfinch Novel Award. Her participation is funded by the National Arts Council Singapore.

Roxana CRISÓLOGO (poet, translator, and cultural worker; Peru/Finland) recent books, Dónde dejar tanto ruido and Kauneus [Beauty], both in their third editions, explore language, migration, and the consequences of ecological and mental crises. She gives her migrant characters a sharp, persistent perspective, challenging paternalistic optimism. In 2013, she founded Sivuvalo in Helsinki, a platform dedicated to promoting Finnish literature abroad through translation and supporting immigrant writers in Finland. She has been a Kone Foundation Fellow for projects such as Is This Finnish Literature? and New Havens & Humanoids. Her participation is made possible by a gift from the estate of William B. Quarton.

Siddharth DASGUPTA (novelist, poet, journalist; India) is the author, most recently, of The Sacred Sorrow of Sparrows—a collection of stories fed by the textures and human splendor within grief; and All These Streets We’ve Known By Heart, which was shortlisted for The Tagore Prize, among others. He is currently working on a gathering of short stories, one of human beings trying to find salvation in the dramas and the bodies and the cities and the coastal empires they know as home. His participation is made possible thanks to the generous support of Hugh F. Culverhouse, Jr. and other donations made to the International Writing Program.

Florencia DEL CAMPO (fiction writer; Argentina/Spain) is the author of four novels: the first one is La huésped (2016), for which del Campo was a finalist for the 2014 Premio Equis de Novela. In 2017, she published Madre mía. Her third novel, La versión extranjera (2019), won the El Premio Internacional de Novela Ciudad de Barbastro. Her most recent novel, Que tenga una casa (2024), won the Premio Brutal Best Novel 2024 in Spain. She has also published several poetry books and children’s titles in Spain. Her participation is courtesy of the Paul and Hualing Nieh Engle Fund. 

Tomás DOWNEY (fiction writer, translator, screenwriter; Argentina) is the author of three short story collections and a novel. His first book to be translated into English, Diving Board, will be released in October 2025. He is the winner of the Fondo Nacional de las Artes prize for a short story collection and the María Elena Walsh Foundation literary prize, among others, and the recipient of grants from the Fondo Nacional de las Artes and Übersetzerhaus Looren. He is currently working on his second novel, Coma. His participation is made possible thanks to the generous support of Hugh F. Culverhouse, Jr. and other donations made to the International Writing Program.

Roy HOROVITZ (theatre director, translator, dramaturge; Israel) is the author of A World of Innocents: The Afterlife of the Bible in Yaakov Shabtai's Plays. He is the winner of the "Scientific Excellence Award" (2022), Best Actor Award (Haifa Festival, 1997) and Best Director Award (Tel Aviv, 2011). He is the chair of the drama & theatre program at Bar-Ilan University and is currently translating two plays (one American, one Russian) to Hebrew. His participation is courtesy of Fulbright Israel (USIEF).

Vlora KONUSHEVCI (poet, translator, and essayist; Kosovo) is the author of the poetry collection Lavdi Vetes and the editor-translator of the bilingual anthologies Poetry Without Borders (Albanian–Serbian) and Magma (Albanian–English). Her poetry and translations appear in The Common, Songs of Eretz, and European Literature Network. A winner of multiple literary awards and a contributor to Kosovo’s cultural press, she also works as a certified translator for national and international institutions. Her participation is made possible thanks to the University of Iowa’s Office of the Vice President for Research and Graduate College.

Hyukin Michaela KWON 권혁인 (playwright, screenwriter, theatre and film director; South Korea) has written and directed a competition-winning multimedia musical and several short films in multiple languages. She won the 2023 BBC International Playwriting Competition, and her winning play Steady Eyes was produced by BBC Studios Audio and broadcast on the BBC World Service in 2024. She was the scriptwriter/director representing Korea for the ASEAN-ROK Independent Cinema Project. She recently completed a stage play exploring Korea’s social rigidity and is currently developing a new play on the realities of a super-ageing society and a novel centred on self-acceptance. Her participation is made possible by a grant from Arts Council Korea (ARKO).

Essay LIU (screenwriter, fiction writer, nonfiction writer; Taiwan) was born in 1980, from Changhua, Taiwan. She has won the Golden Horse Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, the Taipei Film Festival's Best Screenplay, the United Literature Novel Newcomer Award, the Lin Rongsan Literature Award for Essays, etc. Her works include: Seven Days In Heaven (父後七日), Dear Child（親愛的小孩), Wish You Were Here Too（希望你也在這裡), and more than ten others. She also teaches scriptwriting courses in universities and workshops. Her participation is made possible by a grant from Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture.

Keren MARGALIT (screenwriter, director; Israel) was born in Jerusalem in 1971. She created the award-winning series Yellow Peppers, later adapted by the BBC as The A Word. She holds a B.A. in Humanities with a focus on Literature from the Open University of Israel and is a graduate of the Sam Spiegel Film & Television School. Her credits include Sleeping Bears, The Deer, and In Treatment. She is known for her emotionally rich, character-driven storytelling. Her participation is courtesy of Fulbright Israel (USIEF).

Yuliya MUSAKOVSKA Юлія Мусаковська (poet, writer, translator; Ukraine) is the author of six poetry collections, including Бог свободи [The God of Freedom], published in English translation by Arrowsmith Press, shortlisted for the L'viv UNESCO City of Literature Prize and named one of the 10 best Ukraine-related books by the Kyiv Independent. Her work has been translated into over 30 languages and published, in particular, in The Southern Review, Tupelo Quarterly, The Common, AGNI, and The Continental. A recipient of numerous Ukrainian literary awards, she is also a frequent speaker at international events and a dedicated cultural advocate for Ukraine. Yuliya's latest collection, Каміння і цвяхи [Stones and Nails], captures how a poet's voice breaks through numbness to record and process the unimaginable realities of war. She is now working on her first book of prose. Her participation is made possible thanks to the University of Iowa’s Office of the Vice President for Research and Graduate College with additional support from Razom for Ukraine.

Ndongolera C. MWANGUPILI (poet, fiction writer, scholar, culturalist; Malawi) is the author of Fragments of my Broken Voice a poetry book; Sons of the Hills, a novel that is in the secondary school curriculum in Malawi, and A Gift to the People: Sr. Beatrice Chipeta’s Legacy, a biography. His works also appear in Southern Humanities Review and Florilege. Others have been widely anthologized including in The Caine Prize for African Writing 2024: Midnight in the Morgue and Other Stories. Mwangupili is currently working on a novel, set to reflect on the social reality in his country. His participation is made possible thanks to the generous support of Hugh F. Culverhouse, Jr. and other donations made to the International Writing Program.

Andra SCHWARZ (poet; Germany) is the author of Tulpa (2023) and Meteor (2023). Her first poetry collection, In the morning we are glass, was translated from the German by Caroline Wilcox Reul and published by Zephyr Press in 2021 (US). She has been awarded residencies for her work in various European countries such as Austria, Latvia, Czech Republic and Poland, and won the Leonce and Lena Prize in 2017. She is currently working on her next poetry collection. Her participation is made possible by the Max Kade Foundation.

Grigor SHASHIKYAN Գրիգոր Շաշիկյան (pen name Grig) Գրիգ (fiction writer, literary critic; Armenia) is the author of three books, two of which — Հիսուսի կատուն [Jesus' Cat] (2015) and Friedensdorf [Peace Village] (2023) — have been bestselling books in Armenia for years. He has received more than a dozen national and international awards, the most notable of which include: “Youth Prize of the President of the Republic of Armenia,” “HOTLIST independent publishers competition,” and “Coburger Rückert-Preis.” He is currently working on a collection of short stories. His participation is made possible thanks to the generous support of Hugh F. Culverhouse, Jr. and other donations made to the International Writing Program.

Myle Yan TAY (playwright, fiction writer, essayist, comic book writer, critic; Singapore) is the author of catskull and playwright of Brown Boys Don’t Tell Jokes and Statement Piece. His debut novel, catskull, won Book of the Year and Best Literary Work at the Singapore Book Publishers Awards. He is currently working on a novel about Singapore’s mandatory military service. His participation is funded by National Arts Council Singapore.

Tayi TIBBLE (poet, nonfiction writer; Aoteatroa/New Zealand) is the author of two poetry collections, Rangikura (2024) and Poukahangatus (2022). She won The Best First Book of Poetry Award at the 2019 Ockham New Zealand Book awards and is the 2024 winner of the Poetry Foundation’s Bess Hoskin Prize. She is currently working on a discontinuous novel and poetry collection about the ocean. Her participation is made possible by a grant from Creative New Zealand.

WANG Yixin 王亦馨 (pen name Datouma) 大头马 (fiction and non-fiction writer, playwright and scriptwriter; PRC), born in 1989, mainly writes short stories and novels, sometimes plays. Her works have been published in Harvest, October, Flower City, Shanghai Literature, Fiction World, Drama and Film Review, and other literary journals. She has published several anthologies of short stories such as Murdering the Television, Guide to Writing Non-Selling Novels, Nine Stories, and The King’s Game, as well as the novel Skinner. She has won the first prize in the fiction category of the 2nd Douban Reading Literature Competition, the first prize in the fiction category of the 12^th Macau Literature Award, the first prize in the 4^th World Sinophone Drama Competition for Young Playwrights, and the first Zhongshan Star Literature Award for Youth of the Year Excellent work, the 7^th Zijinshan Literary Award Newcomer Award. The novella Murdering the Television was adapted into a play of the same name and was performed for the first round at Beijing Capital Theater in 2016. The play To the Lighthouse had its first round in 2020 at the Taipei Dadong Cultural and Art Center. Some of her stories are being adapted into films. Her participation is made possible thanks to the generous support of Hugh F. Culverhouse, Jr. and other donations made to the International Writing Program.

WONG Ching-hang 王証恒 (fiction writer, journalist; Hong Kong/Scotland) was born in Hong Kong. In 2021, the Hong Kong Arts Development Council funded the publication of his debut short story collection, Southbound Truck 南歸貨車. Writing in a realistic style, he focuses mainly on Hong Kong’s New Territories West in his work with the aim of bringing to light how the lower-class lives and the roots of their difficulties. His first collection features a teacher, truck driver, detective, masseuse, welder, construction worker, and dock worker; his stories are set in the New Territories and beyond, which enable him to examine the complexity of cross-border population movement and the rapid changes the city has seen in recent years. His participation is made possible by the Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Global.

YU Yuen Lan (fiction writer, poet, nonfiction writer; Hong Kong) is the author of the novel 我是嬰 [Before I] (2023), poetry collection 島之肉 [Nowhere Land] (2022) and short stories collection 無一不野獸 [The Bestiary] (2018). In recent years, she also served as a judge for the Hong Kong Youth Literary Awards in the fiction category. Her work The Bestiary was nominated for the Renaissance Award 2019 for the literature category. Before I is her recent novel, attempting to break through her personal writing patterns and challenge existing local novel conventions in both form and content. She is currently a freelance journalist, writing feature articles and interviews for cultural magazines and online media. Her participation is made possible by the Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Global.