Iowa International Writing Program Reading

Poets House welcomes five poets from the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa for an evening of readings and conversation. This event explores various cultural spaces that poetry occupies, internationally and domestically. Director of the International Writing Program, Christopher Merrill introduces visiting poets Johanna Aitchison (New Zealand), Anas Atakora (Togo), Matthew Cheng (Hong Kong), Yao Feng (Macau), and Marie Silkeberg (Sweden).

Johanna Aitchison (poet; New Zealand) is the author of three books of poetry including A Long Girl Ago (2007, finalist at the 2008 Montana New Zealand Book Awards) and Miss Dust (2015). Widely anthologized in her home country, she is also the winner of the 2005 Victoria University Story Inc. Prize for Poetry and the 2012 New Zealand Poetry Society International Competition. Her participation is made possible by Creative New Zealand.

Anas Atakora (poet, nonfiction writer; Togo), currently a PhD candidate at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, has several published poetry collections, with his most recent, En Attendant le poeme, released in early 2015. The forthcoming Tante Bea will be his first short story collection. In 2008, Atakora was awarded the Plumes emergentes award from the University of Lome. He participates courtesy of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U. S. Department of State.

Matthew Cheng Ching-Hang (poet, nonfiction writer, editor; Hong Kong) is the author of the poetry collection The First Book of Recollection, co-author of Wait and See: The Collection of Six Hong Kong Young Writers, and teh editor of An Anthology of Hong Kong Poetry of the 50s, Hong Kong Short Stories 2004-2005, and Hong Kong Cinema Retrospective 2011, among others. The former Vice-Chair of the Hong Kong Film Critics Society, in 2013 he received the Hong Kong Arts Development Award for Best Artist (Arts Criticism). He participates courtesy of the Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation.

Yao Feng (poet, translator, professor; Macau) is the pen name of Yao Jimgming. The author of four poetry collections, he writes in Chinese as well as Portuguese, and translates Portuguese poetry into Chinese. A winner of many poetry awards as well as a medal from the President of Portugal, he teaches in the Department of Portuguese at the University of Macau. His participation is made possible by the Paul and Hualing Engle Fund.

Marie Silkeberg (poet, translator, nonfiction writer, screenwriter; Sweden) is the author of seven poetry collections, including 23:23 (2008) and Material (2010), and the essay collection Avståndsmätning (2005). Among her translations are those of Inger Christensen and Rosemary Waldrop. She also regularly collaborates with composers and filmmakers on text and sound compositions. A recipient of a number of awards, she teaches Literary Composition at the University of Gothenburg. Her participation is made possible by the Paul and Hualing Engle Fund.