Three writers from the International Writing Program (IWP) will present a Lunch and Learn program at the Dubuque Museum of Art on Tuesday, October 11 from 12:15-1 p.m. The writers will read and discuss selections from their work and take questions from the audience.

The IWP is the oldest and largest multinational writing residency in the world. The IWP annually brings outstanding authors from every continent to the University of Iowa, a major American research institution internationally renowned for its writing programs.

Since 1967, over 1,400 writers from more than 140 nations have taken part in the University’s Fall Residency. For 2016, the IWP will bring together 30-35 of the world’s emerging and established writers to participate in this unique inter-cultural experience. Over the course of 10 weeks, aside from working on their own projects, writers will give readings and lectures that share their work and cultures, collaborate with artists from other genres and art forms, and travel and interact with American audiences across the United States.

WRITERS: 

 Obari GOMBA (poet, playwright; Nigeria) teaches in the Department of English Studies at the University of Port Harcourt, and has facilitated writing workshops for the 2014 UNESCO World Book Capital. In 2013 his  volumeLength of Eyes was longlisted for the Nigeria Prize for Literature; the most recent of his three poetry collections,Thunder Protocol, appeared in 2015. He writes on issues of class, justice, and culture. He participates courtesy of the U.S. Consulate General in Lagos.

NG Virginia Suk-yin  伍淑賢 (fiction writer, essayist; Hong Kong) writes stories, often about her generation’s life in contemporary Hong Kong, recently gathered in the collection [People from the Mountain]. The collection of essays [Night Follows Day] is forthcoming. Her stories have been widely anthologized, both in Chinese and in English translation. She works as a communications consultant. She participates courtesy of the Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation.

Stephanos STEPHANIDES (poet, memory-fiction writer, translator, filmmaker; Cyprus) is professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of Cyprus. His poetry has been published in a dozen languages. He received the American Anthropological Association’s first prize for poetry in 1988, and a first prize for video poetry for his Poets in No Man’s Land at the Nicosia International Film Festival.  A general editor of the European Journal of English Studies, he has served as a judge for the Commonwealth Writers Prize. His participation is made possible by an anonymous donation to the IWP.