The University of Iowa International Writing Program (IWP) has lost nearly $1 million in funding, as announced today in a statement from the IWP.
The IWP received notice on Feb. 26 that its grants with the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs would be terminated. The notice stated that the awards “no longer effectuate agency priorities,” nor align “with agency priorities and national interest.”
The State Department website lists the IWP as “the oldest and largest multicultural writing residency in the world.”
The immediate effect, as noted by the IWP, is the cancellation of several programs, including:
- Between the Lines — the IWP’s summer youth program
- Lines and Spaces Exchanges — a reading tour program to countries or regions with little history of literary liaisons with the U.S.
- Distance Learning — online courses, exchanges, and events aimed to encourage worldwide cultural and creative exchange
- Emerging Voices — a mentorship program matching emerging writers who are displaced, sheltering in place, and/or facing limited educational opportunities with IWP alums
The next IWP cohort — which usually hosts 30 writers from around the world — will only accept half its students next fall, due to the loss of federally funded participants. The IWP does not have in-house funding for its writers.
The IWP also recently submitted letters of interest for the undeveloped lot at 21 S. Linn St., aiming to construct apartments for visiting writers. Their interest letters were part of a proposal from Grand Rail Development, a North Liberty-based construction and land development company that proposed a six-story building with 6,300 square feet of entertainment space on the ground floor, 16 market-rate and four affordable apartments with three upper floors dedicated to commercial space.
IWP Executive Director Christopher Merrill said despite the funding cuts, the organization’s interest in the 21 S. Linn St. development is still strong.
“The IWP remains very interested in the apartments, and though we will have to scale back the size of our fall residency this year we hope to return to full strength by the time the building is finished,” Mr. Merrill wrote in an email to the Corridor Business Journal.
In addition to the IWP, the proposal also included letters from The Englert Theatre, The Stories Project, ACT, OPN Architects, and the Housing Fellowship.
As stated by the UI Office of Strategic Communication, the IWP’s literary contributions significantly impact local communities culturally and economically.
“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,” the statement reads.
More than 1,600 established writers from more than 160 countries have participated since the program was founded in 1967.
Founders Hualing Nieh Engle and her husband Paul Engle — a long-time director of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop — were nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 1976 for their efforts to promote cultural diplomacy.
“We are devastated by the abrupt end of this 58-year partnership and are working closely with University of Iowa General Counsel and Grant Accounting to review the terminations, understand their full impact, and respond in the best interest of the organization,” the statement from IWP reads. “Despite this disappointing turn of events, the IWP’s mission to promote mutual understanding through creative writing and literature remains unchanged; with the help of a limited number of other partners, we will still hold a 2025 Fall Residency even while pursuing new sources of funding.”
Those interested in supporting the International Writing Program directly can visit the University of Iowa’s giving website to donate.
