Join us for the International Writing Program's Prairie Lights Reading Series this Sunday to hear readings by two 2024 Fall Residency writers and one University of Iowa MFA student.

Péter Závada (poet, playwright, translator, teacher; Hungary) is the author of the poetry collection Wreck in Lee (2017), for which he won the Horváth Péter Literary Scholarship, in addition to four other books of poetry. He is also a recipient of the Öarkény István Playwriting Scholarship (2016), the Móricz Zsigmond Literary Scholarship (2017), and the Cogito Prize for Young Philosophers (2023). Several of his plays have been produced to acclaim in Budapest, Nyitra, and Dresden, and The Kertész Street Shaxpeare Carwash won the Critic’s Choice Award for the best Hungarian theatre production of the year in 2021. At an early age, Závada was part of the highly successful rap group Akkezdet Phiai. He currently holds a full-time position as a senior lecturer in the Eötvös Loránd University Department of Aesthetics. His participation is made possible by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.

Karoline Kamel (nonfiction and fiction writer, journalist, filmmaker; Egypt) is a Cairo-based journalist and the author of the novel Victoria (2022). She has published stories with a focus on the concerns of women and other social issues in several literary magazines, and is currently writing a second novel, Claiming Life, which tells the intersecting stories of three women born in different decades. Her first feature film, The Lottery, is presently in the editing process. Her participation was made possible by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.

Woody Dismukes is a Brazilian-American poet and author. He has taught at University Settlement's Creative Center, the Dorothy Kirby and Camp Kilpatrick juvenile detention centers, and the University of Iowa, where he is a current MFA Candidate in Fiction. He is a Clarion West alumnus and is a 2-time recipient of the Ignyte Award. His debut novel Abicus Blues premiered as an Audible Exclusive in 2022, and his shorter work has been featured in Lightspeed, Nightmare, FIYAH, Strange Horizons, Apex, and elsewhere.

Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to attend all University of Iowa-sponsored events. If you are a person with a disability who requires a reasonable accommodation in order to participate in this program, please contact the IWP in advance at iwp@uiowa.edu or 319-335-0128.