The free public events presented by the University of Iowa International Writing Program (IWP) Sept. 11-16 will begin with a Cinematheque screening of The Chess Players.

The events are:

• The Chess Players, a 1977 film from India, introduced by IWP resident Barlen Pyamootoo from Mauritius, at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 11 in the Adler Journalism and Mass Communication Building, followed by a discussion.
• A panel discussion about "Writing in a Country At War,” at noon Friday, Sept. 14, in the Gerber Lounge of the English Philosophy Building. IWP Director Christopher Merrill will introduce IWP residents Yaghoub Yadali (Iran), Bilal Tanweer (Pakistan), Mohib Zegham (Afghanistan), and Alisa Ganieva (Russia), and pizza and drinks will be available.
• Writing from South Korea will take center stage in a Shambaugh House Reading with refreshments at 5 p.m. Friday, Sept. 14, featuring IWP residents Hae Yisoo and Choi Myoung Sook.
• IWP residents Pyamootoo and Chan Chi Tak (Hong Kong) and a graduate student from UI's writing programs will read from their works at 4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 16 in Prairie Lights Books.

The Chess Players, a classic by legendary director Satyajit Ray, is a satirical comedy set in the mid-19th century, as the British prepare to annex one of the last independent kingdoms in the Indian subcontinent, and a rebellion is brewing. The movie won three Filmfare Awards, including Best Movie,and was it a nominee for Best Film at the Berlin International Film Festival.

The 2012 IWP community includes book publishers, recorded musicians, film editors, slam poets, librettists, playwrights, human rights workers, BBC journalists, and art curators. They include a winner of the Arabic Booker Prize, one of Granta’s Best Young Spanish-Language Novelists, and one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World.

The roster of this fall's "United Nations of Writers" includes the representatives from Afghanistan, Argentina, Belarus, Botswana, Brazil, Burma/Myanmar, Chile, Egypt, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Mauritius, New Zealand, Pakistan, Philippines, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovakia, South Korea, Taiwan, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, and Zimbabwe.

Founded in 1967, the IWP was the first international writers' residency at a university, and it remains unique in world literature. Since 1967, more than 1,400 writers from more than 140 countries have been in residence at the UI. The IWP is part of the UI Graduate College.

The IWP introduces talented writers to American life; enables them to take part in American university life; and provides them with time, in a setting congenial to their efforts, for the production of literary work.

The U.S. Department of State is a major source of support for the IWP. The residency also includes writers participating on grants from their domestic cultural organizations and foundations.

For a UI arts calendar and event details, visit the new Arts Iowa website.