The free events presented by the University of Iowa International Writing Program Oct. 2-7 will open with a Cinematheque screening of the 2003 Afghan film Osama at 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 2, in RoomE105 of the Adler Journalism Building.

Other events are:

• A panel discussion (with pizza and beverages) about Writing in a Landscape at noon Friday, Oct. 5 in the Iowa City Public Library.
• A reading at 5 p.m. (with refreshments) in the Shambaugh House at 430 N. Clinton St.
• A reading at 4 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 7, in Prairie Lights Books in downtown Iowa City.

Osama will be introduced by Afghan writer Mohib Zegham, who will also lead a discussion following the screening.

The title character is not THAT Osama. The film is the story of an Afghan girl living under the Taliban regime who disguises herself as a boy named Osama. It was the first film shot entirely in Afghanistan since the repression of the Taliban prohibited filmmaking.

The library panelists will be poet Andrei Khadanovich from Belarus, and South Korean writers Choi Myung Sook and Hae Yisoo.

In the Shambaugh House event, fiction writer Yaghoub Yadali from Iran and Chilean fiction writer Matias Correa will read from their works.

Brazilian poet Rodrigo Garcia Lopes and poet/fiction writer Gulala Nouri from Iraq will be joined by Iowa Writers' Workshop student Don Waters, a winner of the Iowa Short Fiction Award, in the Sunday event in Prairie Lights.

For accommodations at the events, contact the IWP at319-335-0128. For a UI arts calendar and details about upcoming events, visit the new Arts Iowa website.