Writing the Immigrant Experience: Authors from the International Writing Program

Join Carnegie-Stout Public Library for a presentation with writers from the University of Iowa's International Writing Program (IWP). Raoul De Jong, Saba Hamzah, and Iya Kiva will discuss their works and speak of their own story of immigration. No registration is required and this event is free and open to the public. This program is sponsored by the University of Iowa Office of Community Engagement's Arts Share program. 

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• Raoul DE JONG (novelist, essayist, playwright, journalist; the Netherlands) has published five collections of travel stories and four non-fiction novels. Among the latter, Jaguarman (2020) was shortlisted for the European Union Prize for Literature and nominated for several Dutch and Belgian literary prizes; the 2023 long-form essay Boto Banja [The Boat Dance] won de Toneelschrijfprijs for best theater writing, and in 2022 the city of Rotterdam awarded De Jong’s overall work the de Anna Blaman Prize. He is completing his first screenplay and participates in the residency thanks to a grant from the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State. 

• Saba HAMZAH سبأ حمزة (poet, scholar; Yemen/ The Netherlands) is the author of the poetry collections تراتيل عذراء [Virgin Hymns] (2012) and حصتنا من السماء [Our Shared Sky] (2021). She has contributed to and collaborated with many academic, artistic, and media platforms and publications, and is the founder of the Yemeni Women’s Archive, a digital space for knowledges emerging from women’s experiences. Her participation was made possible by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.

• Iya KIVA  Ія Ківа  (poet, translator, journalist; Ukraine) is the author of poetry volumes Подальше от рая [Farther from Heaven] (2018) and Перша сторінка зими [The First Page of Winter] (2019), as well as of a 2021 book of interviews with Belarusian writers. Her poems have been translated into more than 30 languages and awarded nationally and internationally. She translates Polish and Belarusian poetry and contributes to the PJ Library program in Ukraine as an editor and a translator of children’s books from the English. Her participation is made possible by an anonymous gift to IWP.