Three writers from the University of Iowa International Writing Program will be visiting Drake University on Sept. 23 for a presentation titled “Being a Writer in the World: Writing as World Citizenship.” The panel discussion, which is free and open to the public, will be held at 3:30 p.m. in Cowles Library Reading Room.
A reading and reception will be held following the discussion at the Des Moines Social Club, 900 Mulberry St., beginning at 7 p.m.
At the panel discussion, the authors will talk about the national and international context for their poetry, fiction, and non-fiction. The following authors will be part of the discussion:
Omar Pérez (poet, essayist, translator; Cuba) won Cuba’s National Critics’ Prize for the collection of essays La perseverancia de un hombre oscuro (2000), and the 2010 Nicolás Guillén Award for Poetry for Crítica de la razón puta. His other books of poetry include Algo de lo sagrado (1996), ¿Oíste hablar del gato de pelea? (1999), Canciones y letanías (2002) and Lingua Franca (2009), with two of them appearing as bilingual editions (Something of the Sacred and Did You Hear About the Fighting Cat?). His recent work moves across media, especially music and collage. He has been an editor at Letras Cubanas, and translates contemporary literature from Italy, Africa, the U.K., and the U.S. He participates courtesy of the William B. Quarton Fund through the Greater Cedar Rapids Community Foundation.
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Tang Siu Wa (poet, essayist; Hong Kong) is the author of two poetry collections, A Bottle Unmoved and The Opposite of Sounds; two volumes of prose writing, A Motley of Banalities and Just Like Nothing Happens; and a collection of interviews, Asking Directions from the People. She is also the editor of the collections Wait and See: Collected Works of Six New Hong Kong Writers, The Tomb of Film, and The Same Darkness Befalls Dawn: Hong Kong June Fourth Poetry. Tang Siu Wa is a founding editor of the literary magazine Fleurs des lettres and a co-founder of the House of Hong Kong Literature. A literary organizer and human rights activist, she teaches creative writing at various Hong Kong institutions and contributes columns and criticism to a variety of local media. She participates courtesy of the Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation.
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Ahmed Shafie (poet, fiction writer, translator; Egypt) is the author of the poetry collection And Other Poems (2009), and the novel, The Creator (2013). He has translated Charles Simic, Billy Collins, Lucille Clifton, and an anthology of Afro-American poems into Arabic. Shafie writes for the poetry translation blog ‘Aswast men Honak’ [Distant Voices], and blogs at ‘Qera’at Ahmed Shafie,’ [Readings of Ahmed Shafie]. His participation is made possible by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.
Visit http://iwp.uiowa.edu/residency#sthash.aMNWef5f.dpuf for more information.
“This is an excellent opportunity to engage with literature by poets, essayists, and novelists with an international perspective,” says Carol Spaulding-Kruse, professor of English at Drake University. “These writers bring ways of seeing the world and the political and historical contexts from which they emerge in sometimes unexpected ways. They can enhance your understanding of the ways in which world literature intersects with issues related to global citizenship, language study, foreign policy, geopolitics, history, and culture.”
The event is co-sponsored by The Principal Financial Group Center for Global Citizenship and the Susan Glaspell Writers & Critics Series. For more information, contact Carol Spaulding-Kruse at carol.spaulding@drake.edu or 515-271-3969.