Writers in University of Iowa's International Writing Program to Read from their Works at Library of Congress

Through a grant to the University of Iowa, t he Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs is supporting the participation of twelve writers in the International Writing Program, ( www.uiowa.edu/~iwp), to introduce them to American life and provide them with the time and setting to produce and present literary work, to conduct research, and to engage in cultural exchange activities with American audiences and the literary community.

Writers featured at the Library of Congress will include:

• Nukila Amal of Indonesia, a widely-read novelist, essayist and translator, whose 2005 short story collection, "Laluba," was named Best Literary Work of the Year by Tempo Magazine;
• Ken Bugul of Senegal (pen name Mari?tou Mbaye Bil?oma), the author of seven novels, including "Riwan ou le chemin de sable" ("Riwan or the Sandy Track"), which was awarded the Grand Prix Litt?raire de l'Afrique Noire;
• Rafael Courtoisie Beyhaut of Uruguay, the author of three novels, 16 volumes of poetry and many essays, who has won both his country's National Prize in Narrative for his first novel "A Dog's Life", as well as the National Prize in Poetry for his collection "Frontiers of Umbria" ;
• Ashur Etwebi of Libya, a physician and senior lecturer at Zawia Teaching Hospital, who has published four collections of poems, most recently "A Box of the Old Laughs," and whose work is widely anthologized in the Arabic-speaking world and Europe;
• Doris Kareva of Estonia, the current Secretary General of the Estonian National Commission for UNESCO, who h as published 13 poetry collections and who, after winning the 1993 State Cultural Prize, launched Straw Stipend that provides publication funding for 10 young Estonian poets ; and
• Partaw Naderi of Afghanistan , a journalist and member of the Afghan Civil Society Forum in Kabul , who has authored five poetry collections as well as several prose books of criticism on modern Afghan literature.

Media representatives may contact Catherine Stearns, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (http://exchanges.state.gov/) at 202-203-5107 or StearnsCL@state.gov .

2006/1044