Congrats to Yiyun Li, 2026 Pulitzer Prize Winner!
Yiyun Li is a Chinese-born writer and professor with an MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop and an MFA in Nonfiction Writing Program from the University of Iowa. Her stories and essays have been published in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Zst American Short Stories, and elsewhere. Her debut collection, A Thousand Years of Good Prayers, won the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award, PEN/Hemingway Award, Guardian First Book Award, and California Book Award for first fiction.
Curious about literature from around the world? Interested in meeting international writers in person? Look no further than the fresh and new International Literature Today course being offered this fall! Together, we will close-read contemporary works of international literature across genres and forms, and thoughtfully discuss and analyze what it means to be global today. We will also do some writing exercises and workshops, and share practices for becoming good "global literary citizens." Students will also have the chance to interact, meet and workshop with writers-in-residence who will be in Iowa City for the International Writing Program (IWP) during the fall semester.
Let's take off together this fall!
Course number: IWP:3191:0001
Congratulations to novelist Madeleine Thien, a 2026 Guggenheim recipient! Madeleine was a 2008 participant in the University of Iowa’s International Writing Program, recognized for outstanding work in fiction. A Canadian-born writer and Brooklyn College faculty member, she is the author of The Book of Records, longlisted for the National Book Critics Circle Award and named by President Barack Obama as a summer 2025 read, and Do Not Say We Have Nothing, shortlisted for the Booker Prize. She has also published a children’s book, The Chinese Violin. Congratulations Madeleine!
Enroll in the IWP TRANSLATION WORKSHOP THIS FALL! Join us this fall for a Collaborative Translation Workshop where students work together with the residents of the International Writing Program to translate the writers’ original work into English. Open to all MFA students proficient in a second language alongside English. Fridays 2-4:30 pm / Fall 26 / 🏛️ Course code: IWP 5205 or TRNS 5210.
CLARA OBLIGADO IN CONVERSATION WITH CAMILA URIOSTE & MAURICIO RUIZ at @prairielightsbooks on Thurs April 2 at 7pm!
Argentinian writer Clara Obligado will read from two of her recently translated books, The Book of Mistaken Journeys and All That Grows: Nature and Writing, and will be joined in conversation with Iowa Writers’ Workshop graduate Camila Urioste and current Writers’ Workshop grad student Mauricio Ruiz.
Give now and your donation is DOUBLED! Help the International Writing Program reach its 10k goal for One Day for Iowa! Link in bio or /iwp26 👏
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#onedayforiowa #iwp #uiiwp #internationalwritingprogram keepgoing
Help us unlock our 10k match today and make your gift count twice! When we reach 10k in donations your giving is DOUBLED. Give to the International Writing Program today for One Day for Iowa and your donation goes further than ever before! Link in bio or /iwp26 👏
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#onedayforiowa #iwp #uiiwp #internationalwritingprogram #keepgoing
This March 25th join us for the 10th anniversary of One Day for Iowa, a special University of Iowa tradition focused on giving! Featuring fun aspects of unlocking and leaderboard challenges, this is a day you don’t want to miss! More info coming soon!
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#1dayforiowa #universityofiowa #internationalwriters #writing
For a quarter century, Christopher Merrill led the University of Iowa's International Writing Program to new heights, exercising cultural diplomacy across the globe and paving the way to make Iowa City the first UNESCO City of Literature in the United States. See our full story on his career as IWP director, as well as photos and additional videos on his stories and writings, at grad.uiowa.edu (link in our bio & story).
Happy Holidays from the International Writing Program! You can support our work in your end-of-year giving. Your donation brings global writers together!
Donation link in bio. ❄
In honor of Christopher Merrill's tenure as director of the International Writing Program, here's a throwback spotlight on Polish novelist and 2021 IWP fall resident Dominika Słowik. Read the article at grad.uiowa.edu.
Join us for our annual World Creole / Kreyòl Literature Virtual Gathering on Tuesday Oct 28, 5:00PM CT / 6:00PM ET on Zoom! Scan the QR code in the to connect at the time of the reading, or join us on YouTube @WritingUIOWA
