Chicago/International Writers Exchange
Guild Complex & Iowa Writers’ Workshop

The Guild Complex, in collaboration with the Iowa Writers' Workshop, presents The Exchange for 2008. The annual international forum on new literature this year features


11/1/08 - 11/1/08

2p-5p


The Guild Complex, in collaboration with the Iowa Writers' Workshop, presents The Exchange for 2008. The annual international forum on new literature this year features:

“Migrating People, Migrating Literature” – paneled conversation on the dichotomies of borders and cultures from the writer's perspective. Lines on the map do not necessarily define lines on the page.

Social time to meet, mingle and eat with guest artists follows.


The Exchange builds a bridge of creative dialogue between Chicago's top critics and practitioners and some of the best emerging writers abroad, through the participation of the International Writers' Program at the University of Iowa.


From the Iowa Writers Workshop's International Writers Program,

Laila al-Atrash, Jordan - A novelist and journalist Laila al-Atrash has published five novels (A Woman of Five Seasons is available in English from Interlink Books), and one short story collection. A TV producer and news editor, she writes a regular column for the Jordanian daily Al-Dustour and comments on literary topics for Amman Magazine, where she also serves on the editorial board. Al-Atrash holds degrees in Law and Arabic Literature and is a member of the High Council and Executive Committee of the Jordanian Ministry of Culture, Currently, she serves as the President of PEN Jordan. She attends courtesy of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the US Department of State.


Tarek Eltayeb, Austria - Novelist fiction writer, poet and playwright Tarek Eltayeb was born in Cairo to Sudanese parents and educated in Austria. He has published five collections of poems, most recently Bacd Az-Zann [‘Certain Suspicions’] (2007), two novels Bayt An-Nakhil [‘The Palm House’] (2006), and Mudun Bila Nakhil [‘Cities Without Palms’] (1992), two short story collections, and a play El-Asanser [‘The Elevator’], (1992). His writings have been translated into several languages, including English. His awards include the Elias Cannetti Fellowship from the City of Vienna and three Major Project Fellowships for Literature. He attends courtesy of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the US Department of State.


Yael Globerman, Israel - poet, fiction writer, is the author of the novel Menanea et ha-ets ['Shaking the Tree'] (1996), and two poetry collections. Her debut poetry volume, ['Alibi'], received the ACUM Award for Poetry (2000) and the 2002 PAIS Award; the collection ['Same River Twice'] came out in 2007, with excerpts appearing in VQR (Summer 2008). She is the editor and translator of A Soul's History: Selected Poems by Stephen Spender (2007); her translations of Ann Sexton are forthcoming in 2009, and a W.H. Auden volume is due in 2010. Globerman has co-written film scripts and a play; she teaches creative writing at Oranim College, is on the board of the Helicon Society for the Advancement of Poetry, and is an editor of the society's poetry magazine. She attends courtesy of the United States-Israel Education Foundation (USIEF) and the Fulbright Commision for Israel.


Gutierrez Mangansakan II, The Philippines - journalist, poet, essayist, filmmaker and editor that has written for the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Manila Times, Philippine Star, Manila Standard, Manila Bulletin, and Malaya, and provides the column "This Blessed House," for a Mindanao-based news service. His first film, House under the Crescent Moon, won Best Documentary at the 15th Cultural Center of the Philippines Prize for Independent Film and Video in 2001; his other films have been screened at international film festivals to wide acclaim. He is editor of Children of the Ever-Changing Moon, an anthology of essays by young Moro writers (Anvil, 2007). His poems, essays and short stories have appeared in ANI 33, Banaag Diwa, and Dagmay. He participates courtesy of the US Embassy in Manila.


From the Guild's local community of writers

Paul Martinez Pompa, Guest author - studied at the University of Chicago and at Indiana University, where he received his M.F.A. in creative writing and served as a poetry editor for the Indiana Review. His chapbook, Pepper Spray, was published by Momotombo Press in 2006. His poetry has also appeared in After Hours: a journal of Chicago writing and art, Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review, and Rhino. Some of his poems will be anthologized in two forthcoming books, The Wind Shifts: New Latino Poetry and Telling Tongues: A Latin@ Anthology on Language Experience. He currently teaches composition and creative writing at Triton College in River Grove, Illinois.


John Keene, Guest author M.F.A. New York University - is the author of the award-winning novel Annotations (New Directions, 1995), and of the poetry collection Seismosis (1913 Press, 2006), with artwork by Christopher Stackhouse. He has published his fiction, poetry, essays and translations in a wide array of journals, including African-American Review, AGNI, Encyclopedia, Gay and Lesbian Review, Hambone, Indiana Review, Kenyon Review, New American Writing, and Ploughshares. Recipient of fellowships from the Artists Foundation of Massachusetts, the New York Times Foundation, Yaddo, and the Bread Loaf Writer's Conference, his recent honors include a 2003 Fellowship in Poetry from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and a 2005 Whiting Foundation Award in Fiction and Poetry. A longtime member of the Dark Room Writers Collective of Cambridge and Boston and a Graduate Fellow of Cave Canem, he was Northwestern's inaugural Simon Blattner Visiting Assistant Professor in 2001. He teaches courses in fiction and cross-genre writing, African-American and Diasporic literature, aesthetics, and literary translation. In 2006, he received the Northwestern University Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences' E. Leroy Hall Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching.


Tony Trigilio, Moderator - has published poems in The Iowa Review, The Spoon River Poetry Review, Hotel Amerika, The Beloit Poetry Journal, Big Bridge, Admit Two, and many other journals. He is co-editor (with Arielle Greenberg and David Trinidad) of the poetry magazine Court Green. He teaches at Columbia College Chicago, where he directs the undergraduate poetry program. His recent books include the poetry collection The Lama’s English Lessons (Three Candles), the chapbook With the Memory, Which is Enormous (Main Street Rag), and the anthology Visions and Divisions: American Immigration Literature, 1870-1930 (co-edited with Tim Prchal; Rutgers University Press).

Author
Guild Complex & Iowa Writers’ Workshop

Director
Guild Complex

Performers
Laila al-Atrash, JordanTarek Eltayeb, Austria Yael Globerman, Israel Gutierrez Mangansakan II, The PhilippinesPaul Martinez, USJohn Keene, USTony Trugillio, US

Tags: Literary, American, Asian, Old Europe, Rest Of The World, 2008