Say the World

In what will likely be this podcast's final episode, Mike Meginnis interviews distinguished translator Jennifer Feeley, who, at the time of this conversation, had recently published translations of the books Tongueless, by Lau Yee-Wa, and Mourning a Breast, by Xi Xi. We very much appreciate her taking the time for this conversation, and regret our delays in making it public.

Say the World: An International Writing Podcast is made by the International Writing Program. The host is IWP Communications Coordinator Mike Meginnis, most recently the author of DROWNING PRACTICE (Ecco, 2022). This podcast is ending, at least for now, because Mike's position has been eliminated due to the loss of funding announced at iwp.uiowa.edu/announcement-iwp. Fortunately, Mike has found other work. He hopes you will consider reading his books, now and in the future.

IWP programming is primarily funded by the University of Iowa, with additional funding provided by various partner organizations and donors like you. If you’d like to donate to IWP, go to bit.ly/iwp-support.

Learn more about IWP at iwp.uiowa.edu.

We continue our series of conversations with IWP staff and collaborators by interviewing Lisa Gardinier from the University of Iowa Libraries. Lisa is a frequent collaborator of the IWP and of Nataša Ďurovičová, with whom she collaborated to curate the special 55 Years of International Writers in Iowa City exhibit discussed in this episode.

A transcript is available at https://iwp.uiowa.edu/page/say-the-world-episode-13-podcast-transcript.

Say the World: An International Writing Podcast is made by the International Writing Program. The hosts are IWP Director Christopher Merrill, most recently the author of ON THE ROAD TO LVIV (Arrowsmith Press, 2023) and IWP Communications Coordinator Mike Meginnis, most recently the author of DROWNING PRACTICE (Ecco, 2022).

IWP programming is primarily funded by the University of Iowa and the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) at the U.S. Department of State, with additional funding provided by organizations like the Doris Duke Foundation, as well as donors like you. If you’d like to donate to IWP, go to bit.ly/iwp-support.

Learn more about IWP at iwp.uiowa.edu.

We continue our series of conversations with IWP staff and collaborators by interviewing Nataša Ďurovičová, who recently retired after serving as the program's editor for twenty-two years. We discuss her academic history and interest in cinema, the roles of writers in public life as imagined by different cultures, how the IWP has changed over the years, and the difficulties of escaping from language.

The Lit_Cast Slovakia episode discussed is here: https://www.litcentrum.sk/en/article/litcast-slovakia-9-natasa-durovicova

The 55th Anniversary virtual exhibit is here: https://www.lib.uiowa.edu/gallery/exhibit/iwp55years/ 

Say the World: An International Writing Podcast is made by the International Writing Program. The hosts are IWP Director Christopher Merrill, most recently the author of ON THE ROAD TO LVIV (Arrowsmith Press, 2023) and IWP Communications Coordinator Mike Meginnis, most recently the author of DROWNING PRACTICE (Ecco, 2022).

IWP programming is primarily funded by the University of Iowa and the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) at the U.S. Department of State, with additional funding provided by organizations like the Doris Duke Foundation, as well as donors like you. If you’d like to donate to IWP, go to bit.ly/iwp-support.

Learn more about IWP at iwp.uiowa.edu.

This episode kicks off a series of interviews with the staff of the IWP, which begins with a conversation with the IWP's director, Christopher Merrill. We discuss his friendship and collaboration with Marvin Bell, as well as his career (more than two decades) as director of the IWP. We discuss how his tenure here began, as well as several especially memorable moments.

This episode description will be updated when the official transcript is available for this episode.

Say the World: An International Writing Podcast is made by the International Writing Program. The hosts are IWP Director Christopher Merrill, most recently the author of ON THE ROAD TO LVIV (Arrowsmith Press, 2023) and IWP Communications Coordinator Mike Meginnis, most recently the author of DROWNING PRACTICE (Ecco, 2022). Additional research, transcription, and other support provided by Research Assistant Derick Edgren Otero.

IWP programming is primarily funded by the University of Iowa and the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) at the U.S. Department of State, with additional funding provided by organizations like the Doris Duke Foundation, as well as donors like you. If you’d like to donate to IWP, go to bit.ly/iwp-support.

Learn more about IWP at iwp.uiowa.edu.

This episode description will be updated when the official transcript is available for this episode.

Today's guest is Mary Rokonadravu. We discussed the history of her home of Fiji, writing from and about nature, working through writing with incarcerated people, the benefits of participating in the IWP, the importance of solidarity in the literary world, and more. 

Bio: Mary Rokonadravu (fiction, nonfiction, prose poetry; Fiji) creates stories, poetry, and literary nonfiction inspired by art, history, and science. Shortlisted for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize (Pacific region) in 2017, she won it in 2015 and in 2022. Her work has been published in Granta, adda, and Synkretic, and anthologized by the University of London Press and Penguin Random House; she is now working on a novel. Her participation is supported by the U.S. State Department through its Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.   Read Mary Rokonadravu’s writing sample: https://iwp.uiowa.edu/sites/iwp/files/ROKONADRAVU_sample_formatted.pdf

Say the World: An International Writing Podcast is made by the International Writing Program. The hosts are IWP Director Christopher Merrill, most recently the author of ON THE ROAD TO LVIV (Arrowsmith Press, 2023) and IWP Communications Coordinator Mike Meginnis, most recently the author of DROWNING PRACTICE (Ecco, 2022). Additional research, transcription, and other support provided by Research Assistant Derick Edgren Otero.

IWP programming is primarily funded by the University of Iowa and the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) at the U.S. Department of State, with additional funding provided by organizations like the Doris Duke Foundation, as well as donors like you. If you’d like to donate to IWP, go to bit.ly/iwp-support.

Learn more about IWP at iwp.uiowa.edu.

You can read this episode's podcast at https://iwp.uiowa.edu/page/say-the-world-podcast-transcript-episode-9-busisiwe-mahlangu.

Today’s guest is Busisiwe Mahlangu. We discussed the various forms in which Mahlangu works, her experiences with performing in a staged production of her own poetry, and the challenges of writing short fiction, among other things.

Bio: Busisiwe Mahlangu (poet, playwright, fiction writer; South Africa) is the author of SURVIVING LOSS, a 2018 poetry collection also adapted for theater. She was awarded the inaugural South Africa National Poetry Prize, has had work longlisted for the Sol Plaatje European Union Poetry Award, and is published in Kalahari, Atlanta Review, 20.35 Africa, Best ‘New’ African Poets, and elsewhere. In 2022, she was a fellow at the Johannesburg Institute for Advanced Study. Her participation is made possible by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.   Read Busisiwe Mahlangu’s writing sample: https://iwp.uiowa.edu/sites/iwp/files/MAHLANGU_sample_formatted.pdf.

Say the World: An International Writing Podcast is made by the International Writing Program. The hosts are IWP Director Christopher Merrill, most recently the author of ON THE ROAD TO LVIV (Arrowsmith Press, 2023) and IWP Communications Coordinator Mike Meginnis, most recently the author of DROWNING PRACTICE (Ecco, 2022). Additional research, transcription, and other support provided by Research Assistant Derick Edgren Otero.

IWP programming is primarily funded by the University of Iowa and the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) at the U.S. Department of State, with additional funding provided by organizations like the Doris Duke Foundation, as well as donors like you. If you’d like to donate to IWP, go to bit.ly/iwp-support.

Learn more about IWP at iwp.uiowa.edu.

You can read this episode's transcript at https://iwp.uiowa.edu/page/say-the-world-podcast-transcript-episode-8-kevin-chen

Today's guest is the Taiwanese novelist Kevin Chen. We discussed the ways that people confuse biography and fiction, Chen's colorful work history, how literary lies can bring us closer to the truth, and more.

Bio: Kevin Chen (novelist; Taiwan) started his career as a stage and screen actor. He is also the author of ten novels and short story collections, which have garnered him several literary awards in Taiwan. GHOST TOWN, in Darryl Sterk’s translation, among Library Journal’s Best Books of World Literature 2022, was longlisted for PEN’s 2023 Translation Prize and will be translated into 11 languages. Chen lives in Berlin, where he long was foreign correspondent for Taiwanese TV. His participation was made possible by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.   Read Kevin Chen’s English writing sample: https://iwp.uiowa.edu/sites/iwp/files/CHEN_sample%20ENG.pdf

Read Kevin Chen’s writing sample in the original language: https://iwp.uiowa.edu/sites/iwp/files/Chen_sample_original.pdf

Say the World: An International Writing Podcast is made by the International Writing Program. The hosts are IWP Director Christopher Merrill, most recently the author of ON THE ROAD TO LVIV (Arrowsmith Press, 2023) and IWP Communications Coordinator Mike Meginnis, most recently the author of DROWNING PRACTICE (Ecco, 2022). Additional research, transcription, and other support provided by Research Assistant Derick Edgren Otero.

IWP programming is primarily funded by the University of Iowa and the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) at the U.S. Department of State, with additional funding provided by organizations like the Doris Duke Foundation, as well as donors like you. If you’d like to donate to IWP, go to bit.ly/iwp-support.

Learn more about IWP at iwp.uiowa.edu.

You can read this episode's transcript at https://iwp.uiowa.edu/page/say-the-world-podcast-transcript-episode-7-marina-porcelli.

Today's guest is the Argentinian writer Marina Porcelli. We're joined by podcast research assistant Derick Edgren Otero for a conversation on the ways they've collaborated in translating a piece originally authored by Porcelli. The piece has since been published; you can read it here. We also discussed a variety of other topics, including the importance of writing about work.

Bio: Marina Porcelli (fiction writer, essayist; Argentina) is the author of the novella A WINTER NOTEBOOK (2021), a collection of essays on gender NAUSICAA. JOURNEY TO THE OTHER SIDE OF OTHERNESS (2021), the story collections THE HUNT (2016) and OF THE BROKEN NIGHT (2009/2021), and others. Her work has garnered her the 2014 Edmundo Valadés Ibero-American Award and the 2021 Eduardo Mallea National Essay Award; she has attended residences in Mexico, Canada, and China. A frequent contributor to Latin American newspapers, she writes the column “The Lyrical Knockout” about gender and boxing for Playboy Mexico. Her participation was made possible by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.

Read Marina Porcelli’s English writing sample: https://iwp.uiowa.edu/sites/iwp/files/PORCELLI_sample_formatted.pdf.

Read Marina Porcelli’s writing sample in the original language: https://iwp.uiowa.edu/sites/iwp/files/PORCELLI_sample_original.pdf.

Say the World: An International Writing Podcast is made by the International Writing Program. The hosts are IWP Director Christopher Merrill, most recently the author of ON THE ROAD TO LVIV (Arrowsmith Press, 2023) and IWP Communications Coordinator Mike Meginnis, most recently the author of DROWNING PRACTICE (Ecco, 2022). Additional research, transcription, and other support provided by Research Assistant Derick Edgren Otero.

IWP programming is primarily funded by the University of Iowa and the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) at the U.S. Department of State, with additional funding provided by organizations like the Doris Duke Foundation, as well as donors like you. If you’d like to donate to IWP, go to bit.ly/iwp-support.

Learn more about IWP at iwp.uiowa.edu.

You can read this episode's transcript at https://iwp.uiowa.edu/page/say-the-world-podcast-transcript-episode-6-reetta-pekkanen.

Today’s guest is the Finnish poet Reetta Pekkanen. We discussed how she came to write poetry, what life is like as a professional poet, how she makes every word count, and more.

Bio: Reetta Pekkanen (poet; Finland) has published the collections SMALL HARD BUDS (2014), TENDRIL (2019), SMUGGLIGNS (2021) and CUT TULIPS (2023). Her poetry focuses on themes of personal and environmental loss, non-human perspectives, and natural semiotics. Among her awards are the Kalevi Jäntti Prize, the Katri Vala Prize and the Silja Hiidenheimo Memorial Stipend; she is a member of the poetry publishing cooperative Poesia. Her participation was made possible by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.    Read Reetta Pekkanen’s English writing sample: https://iwp.uiowa.edu/sites/iwp/files/PEKKANEN_sample_formatted.pdf

Read Reetta Pekkanen’s writing sample in the original language: https://iwp.uiowa.edu/sites/iwp/files/Pekkanen_sample_original.pdf

Say the World: An International Writing Podcast is made by the International Writing Program. The hosts are IWP Director Christopher Merrill, most recently the author of ON THE ROAD TO LVIV (Arrowsmith Press, 2023) and IWP Communications Coordinator Mike Meginnis, most recently the author of DROWNING PRACTICE (Ecco, 2022). Additional research, transcription, and other support provided by Research Assistant Derick Edgren Otero.

IWP programming is primarily funded by the University of Iowa and the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) at the U.S. Department of State, with additional funding provided by organizations like the Doris Duke Foundation, as well as donors like you. If you’d like to donate to IWP, go to bit.ly/iwp-support.

Learn more about IWP at iwp.uiowa.edu.

You can read this episode's transcript at https://iwp.uiowa.edu/page/say-the-world-podcast-transcript-episode-5-wong-yi-eva. 

Today’s guest is the author Wong Yi, who also goes by Eva. We discussed how she uses research to enrich her fiction, the experience of living and writing in the age of social media, what it's like to have one's work adapted, and how it felt to write the libretto for a chamber opera based on the works of Xi Xi.

Bio: Wong Yi Eva (fiction writer, essayist, librettist, editor; Hong Kong) is the author of short stories collections WAYS TO LOVE INA CROWDED CITY, THE FOUR SEASONS OF LAM YIP, PATCHED UP, and NEWS STORIES, as well as the libretti for Cantonese-language chamber opera WOMEN LIKE US, and multimedia concert THE HAPPY FAMILY. She won the 2018 Hong Kong Arts Development Award for Young Artist (Literary Arts) and was in 2020 among the “20 most anticipated young Sinophone novelists” in the Taiwanese magazine Unitas. She is working on stories exploring Hong Kong’s historical monuments, and on texts for performance with music and other art forms. Her participation was made possible by the Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Global.

Read Wong Yi's English writing sample: https://iwp.uiowa.edu/sites/iwp/files/Wong-Yi-writing-sample_ENG.pdf 

Read Wong Yi's writing sample in the original language: https://iwp.uiowa.edu/sites/iwp/files/Wong%20Yi%20Writing%20sample%20for%20IWP%20website_%20Chinese%20%281%29.pdf

Say the World: An International Writing Podcast is made by the International Writing Program. The hosts are IWP Director Christopher Merrill, most recently the author of ON THE ROAD TO LVIV (Arrowsmith Press, 2023) and IWP Communications Coordinator Mike Meginnis, most recently the author of DROWNING PRACTICE (Ecco, 2022). Additional research, transcription, and other support provided by Research Assistant Derick Edgren Otero.

IWP programming is primarily funded by the University of Iowa and the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) at the U.S. Department of State, with additional funding provided by organizations like the Doris Duke Foundation, as well as donors like you. If you’d like to donate to IWP, go to bit.ly/iwp-support.

Learn more about IWP at iwp.uiowa.edu.