The IWP and UI MFA writing programs take over the 2nd floor of Prairie Lights – grab a glass of wine or a fancy soda and settle in for an hour of highlights from three of the writers' best works!

Efe DUYAN (poetry, translation; architecture; Turkey) teaches architectural history and theory at Mimar Sinan Arts University. He has authored three poetry collections, most recently Sıkça sorulan sorular [Frequently Asked Questions] (2016), and publishes academic work on space in architecture and poetry. His debut novel [Other] is forthcoming. A co-director of the Gaziantep Poetry Festival, he has read at poetry festivals world wide; his work has been translated into 29 languages. He participates courtesy of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. State Department.

Amanda MICHALOPOULOU (fiction;  Greece) is the author of eight novels, three story collections and children’s fiction, and a contributing editor to Greek and German dailies. Her debut novel Yantes won the 1997 Diavazo Award; I’d Like (2005), in Karen Emmerich’s translation, received National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) International Literature Prize. Her work has been translated into 20 languages; she has had fellowships and literary residencies in Germany, China, the U.S., and elsewhere. She teaches creative writing in Athens, and participates courtesy of an anonymous gift to the IWP.

Siyanda Mohutsiwa (Botswana) is a satirist, TED speaker, and graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. She is a #Botswana national, known internationally for the coining of the term “Social Panafricanism” – an ideology that encompasses the growing place of social media in the African political landscape. She lives in Iowa City.