Christopher Merrill, director of the International Writing Program, speaks in March 2022 at the University of Iowa’s 39th Presidential Lecture. Image: University of Iowa
By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
International Writing Program: A Loss of Federal Funding
This morning (April 22), Christopher Merrill has been named the winner of the 2025 Ottaway Award for the Promotion of International Literature. Merrill is in his 25th year as director of the International Writing Program (IWP) based in the graduate college of the University of Iowa, and he will formally be given the recognition on June 3 in a program in New York City.
Ironically, he is also coping with a Donald Trump administration termination of federal grants to that program.
On February 26, the International Writing Program was notified that its grants with the United States Department of State, the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, were being terminated.
As a notice on the Writing Program’s site puts it, “This notification explained that the IWP’s awards ‘no longer effectuate agency priorities,’ nor align ‘with agency priorities and national interest.’ The immediate result was the cancellation of Between the Lines (the summer youth program), and the dissolution of Lines and Spaces Exchanges, Distance Learning courses, and Emerging Voices programs.”
In James Kelley’s coverage for Iowa Public Radio, he wrote on March 6 that the number of writers in the coming autumn residence (normally as many as 30 writers for 11 weeks) “will shrink by half.”
The grant terminations enacted by US secretary of state Marco Rubio’s state department to the 58-year-old program reportedly come to nearly US$1 million.
Vanessa Miller at the Gazette, based in Cedar Rapids, on March 6 quoted Merrill’s message to the International Writing Program community, saying, ““We are devastated by the abrupt end of this 58-year partnership [with the US State Department] and are working closely with the Office of General Counsel and the university’s grant accounting office to review the terminations, understand their full impact, and respond in the best interest of the organization to promote mutual understanding through creative writing and literature.
“Despite this disappointing turn of events, the International Writing Program ’s mission remains the same,” Merrill wrote, “and with the help of a small number of other partners, we will still hold a 2025 fall residency as we also pursue new sources of funding.”
Merrill has confirmed that “The International Writing Program ’s other long-time funding partners, including a combination of donors, grants, foreign ministries of culture, and NGOs [non-governmental organizations], will continue to support writers.”
More from Merrill and his appeal can be found on the International Writing Program site here.
The Ottaway Award
The Ottaway Award, as many of our Publishing Perspectives readers know, is a project of the nonprofit literature-in-translation program Words Without Borders, and the award bears the name of James H. Ottaway Jr., who was the first board chair of that organization. The award does not carry a cash award.
Merrill, familiar to many of our international readers, is a frequently awarded poet, a writer of nonfiction, a translator, and an editor who holds a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres from the French government; multiple translation awards; and fellowships from both the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial and the Ingram Merrill Foundation.
In a prepared comment on today’s news, Words Without Borders’ chair Samantha Schnee is quoted, saying, “As we celebrate the 12th anniversary of the Ottaway Award, we are particularly delighted to recognize Christopher Merrill and the vital work he has done to promote international literature as director of the International Writing Program over the past quarter century.”
The Ottaway—which many may associate most readily with recipients in the realm of literary translation—is specifically conferred on Merrill in recognition of his “extraordinary work as an advocate of international literature,” a person “who has advanced its reach in the anglophone world through cultural diplomacy and by uplifting international writers.”
Merrill’s Work
As the Ottaway program notes, the International Writing Program was founded in 1967 and awards residencies to talented writers from many parts of the world, bringing international authors into classrooms, and introducing American writers to elements of other cultures. More than 1,600 writers from at least 160 countries reportedly have been in residence at the International Writing Program, including three Nobel laureates in Literature: Han Kang, Orhan Pamuk, and Mo Yan.
In his tenure as director, Merrill—who was appointed in 2012 by the United States’ then-president, Barack Obama, to the National Council on the Humanities—has worked to “expand the International Writing Program by “increasing the number of countries that send writers to the program, facilitating the translation of international writers and personally leading workshops and reading tours abroad.” He served on UNESCO’s United States National Commission from 2011 to 2018. His support of an initiative helped to see Iowa City named the first North American UNESCO City of Literature in 2008.
Merrill’s publications include eight collections of poetry. He’s also the author of many edited volumes and translations, and six books of nonfiction, among them Only the Nails Remain: Scenes From the Balkan Wars; Things of the Hidden God: Journey to the Holy Mountain; and The Tree of the Doves: Ceremony, Expedition, War; and his On the Road to Lviv from Arrowsmith Press (2023) is translated to Ukrainian by Nina Murray.
Ottaway include Marcia Lynx Qualey; Daniel Hahn; Naveen Kishore; the late Edith Grossman; Chad W. Post; Jill Schoolman; Barbara Epler; Sara Bershtel; the late Carol Brown Janeway; and Drenka Willen.
More from Publishing Perspectives on ‘Words Without Borders’ is here, more from us on translation is here, more on politics and publishing is here, and more on book and publishing awards is here.
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