Fall 2022 International Writing Program (IWP) Panel: Writing the Not-Self

A conversation between four IWP 2022 Fall Residency writers on the theme of "Writing the Not-Self."

About the authors:

Safinah Danish Elahi (fiction writer, poet; Pakistan) is lawyer by training. She is the author of the poetry collection The Unbridled Romance of Love and Pain (2019) and two novels, most recently Eye on the Prize (2020), which has since been turned into a TV film. She also contributes to Pakistani newspapers and magazines, and is the founder of Reverie Publishers, whose goal it is to guide the country’s emerging Anglophone writers. Her participation was made possible by a grant from the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the US Department of State.

Endalegeta Kebede (fiction writer, poet, playwright, researcher; Ethiopia) is the author of over a dozen novels, stories, poems and staged plays. Among his titles are [Under The Dark Sky], [The Defiant Woman], and [Baalu: His Life and Works]. With a PhD in Folklore Studies, he has been an arts director at the Ethiopia Academy of Science, and the General Secretary of Ethiopian Writers Association. He is also the founder and manager of the Zagol Book Bank. He participates courtesy The US Embassy in Addis Ababa.

Chun Sue (fiction writer, poet; PRC/Germany) became widely known with her iconic 2002 novel Beijing Doll, translated into many languages. She has since published five additional novels, most recently the autobiographical [Milk Teeth] (2019), three poetry collections, and books of essays. A frequent presence at literary festivals and arts residencies in Europe, she also publishes in Chinese literary magazines. Her participation is courtesy of the Paul and Hualing Engle Fund.

Jamie Marina Lau (fiction, poetry, performance; Australia) has published Pink Mountain on Locust Island (2018) and Gunk Baby (2021), which garnered her a number of awards; her stories, non-fiction and poetry have appeared in Meanjin, Cordite Poetry Review, Voiceworks and elsewhere. She also works with digital arts and music/sound composition. Her residency is supported by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the US Department of State.

Books and Writing International Writing Program Iowa City Book Festival