Between the Lines (BTL) brings together young writers aged 16-19 years old from the USA, Russia and Arabic-speaking countries to develop their creative writing skills while exploring each other’s cultures. For two exciting weeks, participants learn from one another through creative writing workshops, a world literatures class, one-on-one mentoring from instructors who are prize-winning, published authors, Skype seminars with international writers, and nightly cultural enrichment activities....

“You've got to believe in yourself. If there is anything stopping you, deal with it right away and see to it that you demonstrate your dependability, your strength of character and your ability to reach your goals.”

Ogochukwu Promise is a former participant in the University of Iowa's International Writing Program, and is a passionate psychologist, novelist, poet, playwright, essayist, motivational speaker, career advisor, and visual artist. 

Currently, Promise...

Mo Yan, the winner of the 2012 Nobel Prize in Literature, was a resident with the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa during the 2004 residency program. He spent two weeks in Iowa City in September 2004, while in the process of writing his novel Sandalwood Death (2004).

During his stay, Mo Yan paid special visit to the Chinese writer Hualing Nieh who, along with her late husband Paul Engle, co-founded the IWP in 1977 and made Iowa City her home. In anemail...

Alisa Ganieva, a Russian writer from the Caucasus region of Dagestan, was a 2012 resident with the International Writing Program. While in Iowa City, she spoke with our Writing University writer Zlatko Anguelov about her life and literary career.

Ganieva was born as a premature baby in Moscow while her parents were living there as graduate students. When she was two months old, her parents returned to Dagestan, and she fondly remembers spending her early childhood with her grandmother...

Taleb al-Refai, a civil engineer by trade and a fiction writer since 1978, was born in Kuwait City. He has published seven collections of short stories, a play, a number of critical works, and four novels, including the controversial The Shadow of the Sun in 1998. His 2002 The Scent of the Sea won the Kuwait National Award for Arts & Literature. Al-Refai has joined the staff of the National Council for Culture, Art and Literature in 1996, where he manages the...

Peter Nazareth (born April 27, 1940), a major critic and writer, was born in Uganda of Goan and Malaysian decent. He is currently professor of English and African-American World Studies at the University of Iowa, where he is also acts as a consultant to the International Writing Program.

Early Life

From an early age, Nazareth’s family encouraged his involvement with writing and music. Nazareth states, “In my house there was no distinction between high...