Christopher Merrill stepping down after 25 years directing UI International Writing Program www.thegazette.com/higher-educa...

Grigor Shashikyan (Grig) from Armenia reading a short story for @uiiwp.bsky.social at Prairie Lights Bookstore.

Roxana Crisologo Correa from Peru and Finland reading her poems for @uiiwp.bsky.social at Prairie Lights Bookstore.

Warren C. Longmire from North Philadelphia reading new poems for @uiiwp.bsky.social at Prairie Lights Bookstore.

Yu Yuen Lan from Hong Kong reading an excerpt from her novel, Before I, for @uiiwp.bsky.social at Prairie Lights Bookstore.

Kazim Ali reading new poems for @uiiwp.bsky.social at Prairie Lights Bookstore.

Rajaa al Sanea from Saudi Arabia reading from her novel Girls of Riyadh for @uiiwp.bsky.social at Prairie Lights Bookstore.

I'm attending No Kings's event, “NO KINGS!! NO COVER!! IOWA CITY!” - sign up now to join me! www.mobilize.us/nokings/even...

Agnes Chew from Singapore reading from an essay for @uiiwp.bsky.social at Prairie Lights Bookstore.

Audrey Cerchiara from the Hudson Valley reading her poetry for @uiiwp.bsky.social at Prairie Lights Bookstore.

Florencia del Campo from Argentina and Spain reading her poems for @uiiwp.bsky.social at Prairie Lights Bookstore.

Tayi Tibble from Aoteatroa/New Zealand reading from a work in progress for @uiiwp.bsky.social at Prairie Lights Bookstore.

Fion Tse from Hong Kong reading an excerpt from her translation of a novel by Lo Yu for @uiiwp.bsky.social at Prairie Lights Bookstore.

Tomas Downey from Argentina reading a short story for @UIIWP at Prairie Lights Bookstore.

Andra Schwarz from Germany reading her poems for @uiiwp.bsky.social at Prairie Lights Bookstore.

Roy Horovitz from Israel reading an essay for @uiiwp.bsky.social at Prairie Lights Bookstore.

Julia Musakovska from Ukraine reading her poems for @uiiwp.bsky.social at Prairie Lights Bookstore.

Devanshi Khetrapal from India reading a short story for the @uiiwp.bsky.social at Prairie Lights Bookstore.

Myle Yan Tay from Singapore reading from his new novel for @UIIWP at Prairie Lights Bookstore.

www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv... What have we become?

What a disaster: www.nytimes.com/2025/08/05/a...

Look what just arrived in the mail!

Delighted to read this conversation with Zhang Yueran (IWP 2016): granta.com/never-again-...

Thrilled to have a copy of my old friend Gail Wronsky's dazzling new book:

What can I say?

Today, we want to share a few essential pieces exploring the impact of federal cuts to arts programs and aid programs. First, @clmerrill.bsky.social‬'s accepted speech from the 2025 Ottaway Award for the Promotion of International Literature: wordswithoutborders.org/read/article... (1)

Today on WWB: read 2025 Ottaway Awardee and IWP director @clmerrill.bsky.social‬ 's remarks from our June 3rd ceremony, which call for us to see these cuts—to USAID and to IWP—as inextricably linked (2). wordswithoutborders.org/read/article...

Grateful to @wwborders.bsky.social for publishing my remarks upon receiving the Ottaway Award for the Promotion of International Literature.

On June 3rd, we presented @clmerrill.bsky.social‬ with the 2025 Ottaway Award. On WWB, you can read Tom Sleigh’s laudation, which was read by Alane Salierno Mason. Stay tuned for Merrill’s own remarks tomorrow! wordswithoutborders.org/read/article...

Delighted to have this new book by the great Romanian poet Ana Blandiana, in the elegant translations of Paul Scott Derrick & Viorica Patea. @uiiwp.bsky.social

Join us virtually for the 2025 Ottaway Award ceremony on 6/3, with a laudation by Alane Salierno Mason and remarks from Ottaway winner @clmerrill.bsky.social ! You can also catch a recording on our YouTube channel after. Learn more and RSVP: buff.ly/v5bKFCT

Good news: www.thegazette.com/higher-educa...

Announcing “The Art* of Defending Artists 3.0”, a unique programme designed to teach you how to navigate legal frameworks to defend artists.

Required reading: www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

BREAKING: we won! A federal judge has enjoined the administration's shut down of Voice of America Another success for the Constitution and for us @sddaction.bsky.social & our many wonderful partners & clients More details to follow--stay tuned!

So this happened: wordswithoutborders.org/read/article...

This is the emergency: www.nytimes.com/2025/04/17/o...

The 7 largest Dow Jones drops in American history: 1. Trump, 3/16/20 -2,997.10 2. Trump, 3/12/20 -2,352.60 3. Trump, 3/9/20 -2,013.76 4. Trump, 6/11/20 -1,861.82 5. Trump, 4/3/25 -1,679.39 6. Trump, 3/11/20 -1,464.94 7. Trump, 03/18/20 -1,338.46 Tired of winning yet?

IWP’s work is in the national interest www.thegazette.com/staff-editor...

International Writing Program is another great national treasure that we are losing. Culture and arts programming run on shoe-string budgets and create so much good diplomacy. American goodness and diplomacy are being replaced by cruelty and brutality

The incredible legacy of the @IWP will prevail in this new era. It will rebuild in the creativity, cultural exchanges and lifelong friendships it has fostered—and the vibrant voices still to come. 🌍✨ #IWP #HopeForWriters #CulturalExchange

Everything good, they destroy.

The end of an era... now.uiowa.edu/news/2025/03...

I Ran U.S.A.I.D. Killing It Is a Win for Autocrats Everywhere. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/06/o...

Holy hell. nymag.com/intelligence...