The U.S. Department of State notified the University of Iowa International Writing Program on Feb. 26 that its grants through the department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs were being terminated, stating that the awards “no longer effectuate agency priorities,” nor align “with agency priorities and national interest.”
Economic impact of IWP
The literary contributions of the International Writing Program significantly impact the University of Iowa and Iowa City communities. Further, writers and their cohorts have generated economic investment in the state of Iowa that would ordinarily be sent elsewhere. More than 90% of funds associated with the IWP’s federal grants are spent domestically, which would have resulted in slightly less than $1 million going back into the U.S. economy over the next year.
Due to this loss of federal funding, totaling nearly $1 million, the program’s leaders will cancel its summer youth program, dissolve distance learning courses, and discontinue the Emerging Voices Mentorship Program. Because the program’s Fall Residency also receives funding through a combination of gifts, grants, support from foreign ministries of culture and nongovernmental organizations, the 2025 cohort will be reduced by about half. The fall program usually hosts about 30 writers.
IWP Director Christopher Merrill says the university remains dedicated to the program’s mission, which is to promote mutual understanding through creative writing and literature.
“We are devastated by the abrupt end of this 58-year partnership 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,” Merrill says. “Despite this disappointing turn of events, the IWP’s mission remains the same 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.”
More information will be forthcoming.
The Fall Residency is an 11-week program that brings established international writers to the UI campus, providing them with time to produce literary work, while also introducing the social and cultural fabrics of the United States. The experience enables them to take part in American university life and creates opportunities for them to contribute to literature courses both at the UI and across the country.
More than 1,600 established writers from more than 160 countries have participated since the program was founded in 1967. For their efforts to promote cultural diplomacy by convening writers from around the world, IWP co-founders Paul and Hualing Engle were nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1976.
Three IWP participants have won the Nobel Prize in Literature: Han Kang of South Korea (2024), Istanbul-born novelist Orhan Pamuk (2006), and Chinese novelist Mo Yan (2012). Sri Lankan author Shehan Karunatilaka won the 2022 Booker Prize.
Learn more about the IWP and read a statement from the program.