In December, we welcomed Yvette Siegert, a Latinx poet, translator, and critic. She is the author of Atmospheric Ghost Lights, selected by Monica Youn for the 2021 Poetry Society of America Chapbook Fellowship. She has received support and mentorship from CantoMundo, Macondo, Bread Loaf, Community of Writers, Ledbury Poetry Critics, the National Endowment for the Arts, Arts Council England, and the Visible Communities programme at the National Centre for Writing. Her translation of Chantal Maillard’s Killing Plato (New Directions) was shortlisted for the PEN Award for Poetry in Translation, and her translations of Alejandra Pizarnik’s later work, Extracting the Stone of Madness: Poems 1962–1972 (New Directions), won the Best Translated Book Award. She is completing a doctorate in Spanish American literature at Merton College, Oxford.
In November, we welcomed Shagufta Sharmeen Tania. Born in Bangladesh, Shagufta Sharmeen Tania Initially trained as an architect. Her fiction and non-fiction have been published in the Bengali-speaking areas of both Bangladesh and India. To date, she has authored two novels, a compilation of novellas and four short story collections. She also translated Susan Fletcher’s Whitbread award-winning novel Eve Green and Antonio Skarmeta’s Burning Patience, from English to Bengali. Her work has appeared in Wasafiri (‘This Gift of Silver’, Issue 84, 2015), Asia Literary Review (‘Notes from the Ward’, Issue 32, 2016), City Press (‘Letters to Her’, Issue 7, 2019) and Not Quite Right for Us (‘Bodies’, 2021 anthology by Speaking Volumes). Currently, she is working on a novel set during the initial years of war-torn Bangladesh, and a fictionalised biography of a celebrated musicologist of Tagore songs. Shagufta was the recipient of the 2018 Bangla Academy Syed Waliullah Award for her contribution to Bengali Literature and she is longlisted for the 2021 BBC Short Story Competition.
In August, we welcomed Charlotte Geater, winner of the UEA New Forms Award 2021 for a two-week residency at Dragon Hall. Charlotte Geater grew up in Ipswich, and she now lives in Walthamstow in east London. She has a PhD from the University of Kent in Creative Writing: The Contemporary Novel. She is chronically ill and freelances part-time in publishing.
She won the White Review’s Poets’ Prize in 2018, and her poetry has been published in Clinic, Strange Horizons, and Perverse. In 2020 Bad Betty Press published her pamphlet Poems For my FBI Agent. She also works with AI-generated texts; she has had a pamphlet of AI-generated poetry published by if a leaf falls press, and another poetry pamphlet that is part AI-generated is forthcoming in Broken Sleep Books’ Legitimate Snack series. She won the UEA New Forms Award in 2021.
She was diagnosed with Lynch syndrome-related endometrial cancer in late 2020, and had cancer surgery in early 2021. That is not her cat.
In July 2021, we welcomed Mattho Mandersloot to Norwich for a month-long residency, with support from the Literature Translation Institute of Korea. Mattho Mandersloot is a literary translator working from Korean into English and Dutch. He earned a BA in Classics from King’s College London, an MA in Translation from SOAS and an MSt in Korean Studies from Oxford. Among others, he has translated bestselling authors Cho Nam-joo and Hwang Sun-mi. In 2020 he won the Korea Times’ 51st Modern Korean Literature Translation Award for his translations of Choi Jeongrye’s poems. During his residency he worked on Choi Jeongrye’s final collection of poetry, Net of Light, alongside award-winning poet and translator George Szirtes.
In June 2021, we welcomed three writers and translators from Singapore in virtual residence in Norwich, with the support of the National Arts Council of Singapore.
Jennifer Anne Champion is a Singaporean writer, archivist and educator of mixed heritage. She has been described by her critics as “a sensitive, conservative-radical, sometimes socially conscious poet struggling to be heard… in the midst of [an] often less than thoughtful, less than kind postcolonial city-state” (Cha Journal). She is the author of two poetry collections and has been published in the Quarterly Literary Review of Singapore, Esquire magazine and her national newspaper, The Straits Times. Her prose was also published in The Epigram Books Collection of Best New Singapore Short Stories edited by Cyril Wong in 2016.
Jennifer started writing poetry in 2013 and became a regular voice in the spoken word scene with around 15 slam wins under her belt before publishing A History of Clocks and Poems Read Aloud (Redwheelbarrow Books, 2015) and Caterwaul (Math Paper Press, 2016). She has since been focussing on teaching spoken word and the literary arts in public and international schools in Singapore. Jennifer is also a co-founder of poetry.sg and served as its Multimedia Editor from its inception to 2019. During her time, she helped expand the collection from poetry in English to include Malay and Chinese works.
Jennifer’s current interests lie in the intersections of textile art and the written word. A recent and avid embroiderer, Jennifer used her residency time to explore textile traditions in Singapore and Norwich and to see how this may translate into her work in poetry.
Nuraliah Norasid is a writer, researcher and educator with a PhD in English Literature and Creative Writing from Nanyang Technological University (NTU). Her debut novel, The Gatekeeper, won the Epigram Books Fiction Prize in 2016 and the Best Fiction Title for the Singapore Book Awards in 2018. Her writing has been published in a variety of publications including, Quarterly Literary Review Singapore (QLRS), Karyawan Magazine, Perempuan: Muslim Women in Singapore Speak Out, and Mynah Magazine.
Nazry Bahrawi is a literary translator, critic and academic at Singapore University of Technology and Design. He has translated two Singapore literary works by Cultural Medallion winners from Bahasa to English. These are Muzika Lorong Buangkok (2012) by Nadiputra and Lost Nostalgia (2017) by Mohamed Latiff Mohamed. He has also translated for the Golden Point Award by The Arts House as well as subtitled a classical Malay film for Objectifs and a play for Teater Ekamatra. As a critic, his essays on Singapore literature were published on Esplanade Offstage and Bite the Tongue, an online exhibition curated by Xing. He has also written critical introductions for Alfian Sa’at’s Collected Plays Three and ASAS 50’s literary collection, Sakura Mekar Di Bumi Berdarah.
As a literary translator, Nazry sees his role as introducing Anglophone readers to the rich tradition of Bahasa literature, both modern and premodern. During his residency, he will be working on the English translation of a classical epic Malay poem called Syair Abdul Muluk by the renowned historian, poet and scholar Raja Ali Haji and/or his sister, first published in 1847 and part of Singapore’s precolonial heritage that connects it to the Malay Archipelago. Nazry is interested in decolonising literary translation and translation theory, looking at how translation studies can embrace decolonial perspectives, thinkers and ideas from South East Asia.
Anne Amienne is a writer and scholar who enjoys getting people to think more carefully about food and culture. While finishing her Ph.D. at the University of Chicago, she launched one of the earliest podcasts, Eat Feed, which became her first book, Eat Feed Autumn Winter (named one of Epicurious’ ‘Best Books of 2008’). Under the pen name, Anne Bramley, she has since written for outlets such as NPR, Saveur, and the Washington Post. Through her consultancy, Scholars & Writers, she helps academic writers engage with their audiences in more meaningful ways.
Alexandra Birrell is a mixed-race woman who was transracially adopted in infancy. Through her writing, she explores the impact of growing up as an ethnic minority in her family as well as her wider community, tackling subjects such as representation, feelings of invisibility and erasure, and the psycho-biological effects of everyday micro-aggressions. Her most recent article, ‘How a Lifetime of Racial Indignities Add Up‘. was featured on the Kings College London diversity digest.
Megan Bradbury is a novelist based in Norwich. Her first novel, Everyone is Watching, was published by Picador in 2016. The book was longlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize and Not the Booker Prize, was chosen as one of the Guardian’s Best Books of 2016. It was also translated into three languages. Bradbury’s short fiction has been published in Ambit, The Mechanics’ Institute Review and Pen & Inc Press, and she has written for The Irish Times and the Eastern Daily Press. She is also an experienced artistic collaborator and has worked on commissioned projects with acclaimed artists from across the world. She holds an MA in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia, and she has been the recipient of a Charles Pick Fellowship, an Escalator Award, two writing awards from Arts Council England and one from the Authors’ Foundation.
Carrie Patten completed a Masters degree in Creative Writing with the Open University (2018). Her poetry has featured by commission for both British Art Show 8, Mind, Language, Matter curated by JMCAnderson and published in Ink, Sweat and Tears. Short stories have been listed with honours for the Cinnamon Literature Award and published in Lighthouse Literary Journal #7. Her story collection Semaphore presents shifting tableaus bound by nature and environment. Concerned with the complexity of familial bonds and the human need for sensual connection, they explore loneliness in miscommunication through protagonists who raise flags, speak in code, withhold secrets and let them spill.
Julia Webb is a Norwich based poet, editor and collage artist. She has a BA (Hons) from Norwich University College of the Arts and an MA in Poetry from the University of East Anglia. In 2011 she won The Poetry Society’s Stanza competition and in 2018 she won the Battered Moons poetry competition. She runs online and real-world poetry courses, mentors poets, is on the committee of Cafe Writers and is a poetry editor for Lighthouse (a journal for new writing). She has two poetry collections with Nine Arches: Bird Sisters (2016) and Threat (2019). She is currently working towards her third collection.
In May 2021 we welcomed Anam Zafar, who was the Visible Communities Emerging Translators mentee. She translates from Arabic and French into English, and this will be her first residency. She believes that problems arise when we speak about people rather than listening to what those people have to say for themselves. Through literary translation, she wants to be a conduit for voices that need to be heard, harnessing the power of storytelling to counter misunderstandings and sensationalism surrounding migration, Islam and the Middle East. During the residency, Anam worked on her translation of Me, My Friend and the Donkey, a young adult novel by Palestinian writer Mahmoud Shukair (2016), and In the Tenderness of War, a non-fiction collection by Syrian writer Najat Abed Alsamad (2015).
In June 2021 we were joined by Derek Barretto. Encouraged by a succession of brilliant language teachers, Derek thrives on a literary reading diet of English, Lusophone and occasionally Francophone fiction and non-fiction. A would-be literary translator looking to specialize in translation of Lusophone fiction and poetry, he has a keen interest in conveying the richness and variety of Portuguese literature to Anglophone readers. During his residency, Derek worked on a translation of Madrugada Fria by Laura DaSilva, a contemporary Portuguese poet.
Also in June, we welcomed to Norwich Rabi Thapa, a writer, editor and translator from Nepal, now working from London. He is the founder Editor of La.Lit (www.lalitmag.com), and the author of Thamel, Dark Star of Kathmandu (Speaking Tiger Books). For Visible Communities, Rabi worked on translating from Nepali to English Boni (1991) by the pioneering feminist writer Parijat (1937-1993). Boni is a series of missives from the author to a young girl on how she might live her life, and it is hoped an English-language version will help address the paucity of translated works from Nepal, particularly by minority women writers.
Shash Trevett was the first of our four Visible Communities virtual translators in residence, from January to April 2021. Shash is a Tamil from Sri Lanka who came to the UK to escape the civil war. She is a poet and a translator of Tamil poetry into English. Her pamphlet From a Borrowed Land (which includes original translations) will be published in 2021 by Smith|Doorstop. She is currently editing (and translating), with Vidyan Ravinthiran and Seni Seneviratne, an anthology of Tamil, English and Sinhala poetry from Sri Lanka and its diaspora communities which will be published by Bloodaxe.
Gitanjali Patel is a translator and social researcher. She was in virtual residence from May to August 2021. She graduated from Oxford University in Spanish and Portuguese and has been translating from these languages since 2010. She translates in a range of media, from film scripts and radio programmes to fiction, including stories by Luisa Geisler, Miriam Mambrini, Fernanda Torres and, most recently, Evando Nascimento. In 2016 she co-founded Shadow Heroes, an organisation which engages secondary school students in critical thought using the art of translation.
Sawad Hussain is an Arabic translator and litterateur who is passionate about bringing narratives from the African continent to wider audiences. Her translations have been recognised by English PEN, the Anglo-Omani Society, the Short Story Day Africa Prize, and the Palestine Book Awards, among others. She has lectured at IAIS at the University of Exeter, taught KS3 & KS4 Arabic in Johannesburg and Dubai, and run workshops introducing translation to students and adults under the auspices of Shadow Heroes, Africa Writes and Shubbak Festival. She holds an MA in Modern Arabic Literature from SOAS. Sawad will be in virtual residence from May to August 2021.
We were delighted to welcome five writers from other UNESCO cities of literature for a month-long virtual residency in February 2021.
Liz Breslin joined us from Dunedin. She writes poems, plays and stories. In 2020 she co-created Dunedin UNESCO City of Literature’s Possibilities Project and was the winner of the Kathleen Grattan Award for a Sequence of Poems. She’s also been part of a spoke’n’word tour of the Otago Central Rail Trail, which will be screened as rail:lines, a documentary film. Her second poem collection, In bed with the feminists, will be published by Dead Bird Books in 2021. www.lizbreslin.com
Lynn Buckle joined us from Dublin. Irish author, artist, and activist Lynn Buckle’s literary novel, The Groundsmen, was published in 2018 by époque press. Nominated for the Republic of Consciousness Prize, it was listed as Easons Best of Irish Literature and featured in a year-long book tour of Ireland and the UK. Recent work examines gender, power, and place through the lens of fictional nature and climate writing, from her own disability perspective. Her short stories and protest poetry can be found in Infinite Possibilities, Brigid, Luisne an Chleite, époque ezine, and HCE Review Vol I, Issue II.
Vahni Capildeo joined us from Edinburgh. Their background in medieval studies, lexicography, translation theory and culture for development underpins their non-fiction and poetry. Capildeo is interested in collaborative and immersive experiments; Skin Can Hold (Carcanet, 2019) and Odyssey Calling (Sad Press, 2020) offer participatory texts for readers to re-work. Capildeo’s work has been recognized with awards including the Forward Prize (Best Collection) and the Cholmondeley Award. Their ongoing research on silence, and their concern with the ecopoetics of place, are reflected in their eighth book, Like a Tree, Walking (Carcanet, 2021) and their seventh pamphlet, The Dusty Angel (Oystercatcher, 2021).
Valur Gunnarsson joined us from Reykjavik. Valur grew up on the Viking trail in Reykjavik, Oslo and Yorkshire. He is best known as a writer of creative historical fiction; his first novel was a Viking fantasy and his third an alternative history where the Germans invade Iceland in World War II. Meanwhile, his second novel was a piece of autofiction set in the aftermath of the economic collapse of 2008. His fourth book, expected in March 2021, is in the same vein, but this time set in the former Soviet Union. He also co-founded Grapevine magazine and has made three albums and a poetry book.
Marcin Wilk joined us from Krakow. He is a writer, journalist, and blogger. For many years he was the curator of the Przemysły Książki (Book Industries) at the International Literary Festival – Conrad Festival in Kraków (Poland), as well as the moderator of the Reading Discussion Clubs on classical literature in the same city. Author of the biographies of two famous Polish women: singer Anna Jantar (Tyle Słońca, 2015), and actress Irena Kwiatkowska (Żarty się skończyły, 2019), and a historical reportage Pokój z widokiem. Lato 1939 (A Room with a View. Summer 1939, 2019). He is an editor of Wyliczanka.eu – a portal about books and literature.
Our first virtual writer in residence was Thomas Heerma van Voss, one of the writers featured in Verzet, the Strangers Press chapbook series of New Dutch Writing. Thomas Heerma van Voss has published four works of fiction, including the novel Stern in 2013, and the short story collection The Third Person in 2014. His chapbook, Thank You For Being With Us, comprises two short stories feature compelling, well-wrought characters who draw the reader entertainingly into their simultaneously hilarious and heart-breaking lives. The stories are translated by Moshe Gilula.
In September, we welcomed Paddy Richardson as one of two virtual writers in residence at Noirwich Crime Writing Festival, supported by University of East Anglia. Joining us from Dunedin, the New Zealand, Anita created new work and fostered connections between Norwich, England’s first UNESCO City of Literature, and her home city, also a UNESCO City of Literature. Paddy Richardson is the author of two collections of short stories and seven novels. Through the Lonesome Dark was shortlisted for the New Zealand Historical Novel Award and longlisted for The Dublin International Literature Award.
In September, we welcomed Anita Terpstra as our virtual writer in residence at Noirwich Crime Writing Festival 2020, supported by University of East Anglia. Joining us from Leeuwarden, the Netherlands, Anita created new work and fostered connections between Norwich, England’s first UNESCO City of Literature, and her home city, also a UNESCO City of Literature. Anita’s debut thriller Nachtvlucht (Night Flight) was nominated for the Shadow Prize and the Crimezone Thriller Award. Samen (Together) was nominated for the Golden Gallows. Her books have been translated in German and French.
In March, we were thrilled to welcome the Estonian writer, poet and musician Vahur Afanasjev as part of our residency exchange with Tartu UNESCO City of Literature. Vahur is the author of the award-winning Serafima and Bogdan, a bloody, funny and surreal family saga about the Russian Old Believer minority in Estonia. In Norwich, Vahur completed his novel On the Brink of Bloom, which is set in the near future and deals with social anxiety about progress. He also collaborated with local musicians and poets at open mic events held at Gonzo’s Tea Room and with Café Writers.
In February, Motoyuki and Hitomi Shibata spent two weeks in Norwich as part of Japan Now East. Motoyuki Shibata is a Japanese translator of contemporary of American fiction. He edits the English-language literary journal Monkey Business, which introduces contemporary Japanese authors to the English-speaking audience, and the tri-annual Japanese-language literary journal Monkey, in which he publishes new Japanese stories and poems as well as translations of those written in English.
Kim Heayeon was born in Seoul, Korea. She majored in German literature and after a long period of working for a publishing company, she became fascinated with children’s books from England, especially the works of Roald Dahl and Philippa Pearce. In 2004, she won the Hans Christian Andersen Award in Korea with A Farewell Gift, and the Golden Goblin Award in 2009 with I’m a Cuckoo.
She has written approximately ten books for children and teenagers, including The Bakery of Coincidence.
Kang Young-sook is a feminist South Korean author. She often writes about the female grotesque, delving into varying genres, such as urban noir, fantasy, and climate fiction. Since her debut in 1998, she has published a number of novels and short story collections, and has received many prestigious awards, such as the Hanguk Ilbo Literature Prize, Kim Yujeong Literary Award, and Lee Hyo-seok Literature Award, among others.
She participated in the International Writing Program’s fall residency at the University of Iowa in 2009, and was also a visiting writer-in-residence at UC Berkeley in 2014. She currently teaches creative writing at Ewha Womans University and Korea National University of Arts.
In November, UK writer Katie Hale headed to Brussels for a residency at Passa Porta.
Born in Cumbria, Katie’s poetry pamphlet, Breaking the Surface, was published by Flipped Eye in 2017. She recently won the Buzzwords Poetry Prize, the Jane Martin Poetry Prize and the Ware Poetry Prize.During her residency Katie will be working on a collection of poetry that explores the ways in which our identity is shaped by those who come before us. Her debut novel, My Name is Monster, is due from Canongate in June 2019.
Bregje came to work on her new novel – working title De oplossing van Hadewych (The Hadewych Solution). Dragon Hall was the ideal location, as the Middle Ages feature large in the novel while Norwich is the most complete mediaeval English town to have survived and has more mediaeval churches than any other European city north of the Alps.
Eva Meijer is an author, artist, singer, songwriter and philosopher. Her non-fiction study on animal Communication, Animal Languages, is forthcoming in English in 2019. Bird Cottage is her first novel to appear in English, translated by Antoinette Fawcett and published by Pushkin Press. It has been nominated for the BNG and Libris prizes in the Netherlands and is being translated into several languages.
In October 2019 we welcomed literary translator and non-fiction writer Ekaterina Petrova from Bulgaria, in partnership with the Elizabeth Kostova Foundation.
Ekaterina Petrova is a literary translator, nonfiction writer, and interpreter. She holds an MFA in Literary Translation from the University of Iowa, where she was awarded the Iowa Arts Fellowship and helped edit the Exchanges Journal of Literary Translation.
Currently based in Sofia, she has been a translator-in-residence at Open Letter Books in Rochester, New York, and at the “Pristina has no river” program in Prishtina, Kosovo. Her literary translations and nonfiction writing have appeared in various Bulgarian and English-language publications.
Yrsa Sigurdardottir was our first UNESCO writer in residence at the Noirwich festival. Author of the bestselling Thora Gudmundsdottir crime series and several stand-alone thrillers, Yrsa Sigurdardottir was born in Reykjavik, Iceland, in 1963 and works as a civil engineer. Her work stands ‘comparison with the finest contemporary crime writing anywhere in the world’ according to the Times Literary Supplement and has been translated into more than 30 languages.
Nuril Basri was born in a village in West Java, Indonesia, and raised in a staunchly Islamic community. Nuril has worked in a variety of positions—cashier, tutor, accounts manager, waiter, etc.—the combined experience of which has served to enrich his characters and settings. Nuril is the author of six novels. Website.
Agustinus Wibowo is a prominent travel writer. His work has pioneered a new genre in Indonesian travel literature by allowing readers to experience the writer’s physical and emotional journey as they contemplate their own anxieties. His third book, Zero: When Journey Takes You Home, became a national best-seller and will soon be adapted into a film. His latest work, Us and Them, will be published in 2019.
Agustinus’ residency was sponsored by the National Book Committee of Indonesia.
Jeremy Tiang is the translator of Li Er, Chan Ho-Kei, Zhang Yueran, Yeng Pway Ngon, Yu Qiuyu and Jackie Chan, among others. He also writes and translates plays. Jeremy’s novel State of Emergency won the Singapore Literature Prize in 2018. He is the managing editor of Pathlight and a founding member of the translation collective Cedilla & Co. He lives in Brooklyn.
Jeremy’s residency was supported by the National Arts Council of Singapore.
Anton Hur was born in Stockholm, Sweden. He has translated Kyung-Sook Shin’s The Court Dancer (Pegasus Books) and Kang Kyeong-ae’s The Underground Village (Honford Star). He is a PEN Translates winner and the recipient of multiple grants from the Literary Translation Institute of Korea, the Korea Arts Council, and the Publication Industry Promotion Agency of Korea. He resides in Seoul.
Anton’s residency was supported by the Literature Translation Institute Korea.
JY is the author of the Tensorate series from Tor.com Publishing, and has been nominated for the Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy and Lambda Literary awards.
In 2016 JY graduated with an MA in Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, for which they were the recipient of a Postgraduate Arts Scholarship from the National Arts Council of Singapore. JY is currently a Writer-In-Residence at the Jalan Besar Writing Residency with SingLit Station.
JY Yang’s residency was supported by the National Arts Council of Singapore.
Japanese book curator Yoshitaka Haba is president of the book and library design company BACH in Tokyo. BACH brings together people and books by producing libraries for organisations ranging from public libraries, hospitals and schools to hotels and zoos.
He also curates the library at Japan House in London, lectures at Waseda University and the Aichi University of the Arts, and is Creative Director of the JFL Nara soccer team.
Yoshitaka Haba’s visit was part of an exchange exploring literature museums and literary heritage in Japan and the UK, funded by the GB Sasakawa Foundation.
Flemish writer Kathleen Vereecken has worked as a freelance journalist for several papers and magazines. She has written historical novels for young adults, books for children, and her first novel for adults was published in 2016. Her work has been translated into French, German and Italian.
While in Norwich, Kathleen was working on a book about Margareta, the sister of renowned 15th century painters Hubert and Jan Van Eyck who painted the Ghent Altarpiece. Margareta was a gifted artist herself and died a virgin.
This residency is part of an exchange with the Passa Porta House of Literature in Belgium, supported by the Flemish Literature Fund. You can listen to Kathleen on the NCW podcast here.
Debby Lukito Goeyardi is an Indonesian storyteller and children’s writer. During her time in Norwich, she worked with schools, the Puppet Theatre and the Millennium Library, sharing her contemporary versions of traditional folk tales.
Indonesian writer Reda Gaudiamo is a young adult short story writer who is also a nationally renowned singer, particularly of poems turned into songs. Her adult collection, Tentang Kital/About Us and chapter book for children, The Adventures of Na Willa, are published in the UK by The Emma Press. Reda Gaudiamo visited local schools to celebrate World Book Day and took part in an event for children and families at the Millennium Library.
Debby Lukito Goeyardi and Reda Gaudiamo’s residencies were in partnership with the British Council as part of the Indonesia Market Focus at The London Book Fair 2019.
Korean children’s writer Jun Sung Hyun made her literary debut in 2009, winning the Chosun Ilbo Spring Literary contest with a children’s short story titled “Yes, That Was You”. In 2011, she won the 15th Changbi Children’s Book Prize for her full-length story The Lost Diary. Jun’s published works include the full-length children’s books The Lost Diary (2011), Siren (2014), and Two Moons (2018), and the children’s short story anthology Sinkhole (2018).
Jeongrye Choi was born in a city near Seoul. She studied Korean poetry at Korea University and received her PhD from the same school. She participated in the IWP (International Writing Program) as a poet at University of Iowa in 2006 and stayed one year at University of California in Berkeley as a visiting writer in 2009. Her poems were appeared in Free Verse, Iowa Review, Text Journal, World Literature Today and various Japanese literary magazines. An English-language collection, ‘Instances’ (which she co-translated with Wayne de Fremery and Brenda Hillman) has been published. She is currently teaching as a lecturer at Korea University. Read about Jeongrye’s stay in Norwich (as translated by Mattho Mandersloot) on the NCW blog.
Both of these residencies were supported by Arts Council Korea (ARKO).
Ivanka Mogilska is a Bulgarian author with five published books: a short story collection, two novels, and two poetry collections. She loves to invent and tell stories, to travel and to do what she likes. Some of her poems and short stories are available in translation into English, French, and Hungarian. Her latest novel, Sudden Streets (Janet 45, 2013), was published into Hungarian under the titleVáratlan utcák, translated by Peter Krasztev (European Prose Series, L’Harmattan, 2017). More information about Mogilska is available in English here.
This residency was in partnership with the Elizabeth Kostova Foundation and is supported by the Embassy of the Republic of Bulgaria in London and the State Institute for Culture at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
You can read about Ivanka’s experience of the residency in the features section of this website.
Nazli Tabatabai-Khatambakhsh is an award-winning independent theatre maker born in Iran and now based in Scotland part of the National Theatre of Scotland’s The Scale of Female Ambition. Over Nazli’s career in venues and touring she has developed a strong leadership role in producing diverse theatre in the UK, in particular, looking at themes of the Middle East and the lives of women. She also led on Creative Case NORTH, which is a re-imagining of Arts Council England’s approach to diversity and equality. She is an International Society for the Performing Arts (ISPA) Fellow. She is currently writing a new version of the ancient Greek tragedy Medea.
Nazli’s residency at the National Centre for Writing was part of Visiting Arts’ programme promoting contemporary Iranian literature and culture in the UK.
