The U.S. State Department is ending its support of the University of Iowa’s International Writing Program. A statement from the State Department says the University of Iowa’s program for authors from around the globe is no longer a priority for the agency and a nearly $1 million grant is being withdrawn.
Christopher Merrill, director of the University of Iowa program, calls it a “devastating” turn of events.
“We had a 58 year long relationship with the State Department, a continuous relationship, a very productive partnership that with one stroke of the pen has ended,” Merrill said.
The program typically hosts 30 writers from around the world for 11 weeks during the fall. Merrill said they’ll cut that to about 15 writers. “I think we have enough money to host, as I said, a small cohort of writers this fall as a sort of placeholding opportunity,” Merrill said, “and then during these next six months, we’ll hope that we can figure out a different way to keep this storied program going.”
Three past participants in the program have won the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Last year, the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs launched a six-month mentoring program with the University of Iowa for writers from Ukraine, Afghanistan, Nicaragua and Myanmar. That program is being cancelled, along with a summer youth program.
(By James Kelley, Iowa Public Radio/Radio Iowa’s O. Kay Henderson contributed to this story.)