Events Calendar

Join us for the International Writing Program's Prairie Lights Reading Series this Sunday to hear readings by two 2024 Fall Residency writers and one alum of the 2016 Fall Residency who is now studying poetry at the Iowa Writers' Workshop.

Tabish KHAIR (fiction and nonfiction writer, journalist, poet, academic; Denmark) was born and educated in the small town of Gaya in Bihar, India. An Indian citizen, he now resides in Denmark, where he teaches in the Department of English at the University of Aarhus. His most recent novels are Just Another Jihadi Jane (2016) and The Body by the Shore (2022). His first collection of short fiction is Namaste Trump & Other Stories (2023). Oxford University Press will publish his new nonfiction book, Literature Against Fundamentalism, in 2024. He participates courtesy of the Paul and Hualing Nieh Engle Fund.

Elena SALAMANCA (poet, historian, fiction writer, art curator; El Salvador) is the author of several multidisciplinary books of poetry, fiction, and scholarly historical work. She has published three bilingual editions of her poetry translated into English: Tal vez monstruos [Monsters Maybe] (2022), Landsmoder (2022), and La familia o el olvido [Family or Oblivion] (2017). She is the creator, author, researcher, and co-coordinator of the collection SIEMPREVIVAS: Extraordinary Women in the History of El Salvador (2022). She is a three-time recipient of the National Poetry Prize in El Salvador, and her books have been published in the United States, Mexico, Guatemala, and El Salvador. Though she currently lives in Mexico, she continues to work as an academic, artist, and activist in El Salvador. Her participation is made possible by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.

ko ko thett’s heart language is Burmese, but he often dunks himself in the discomfort of English. He has published and edited 12 poetry collections and translations in both Burmese and English, and taken part in a number of literary festivals, from Sharjah to Shanghai. His poems are widely published and translated. His translation work has been recognized with an English PEN Translates Award. ko ko thett's most recent poetry collection Bamboophobia (Zephyr Press, 2022) has been shortlisted for the Walcott Prize. He lives between Iowa City, U.S., and Norwich, U.K.

Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to attend all University of Iowa-sponsored events. If you are a person with a disability who requires a reasonable accommodation in order to participate in this program, please contact the IWP in advance at iwp@uiowa.edu or (319) 335-0128.