The famous group of five that includes - poet and Columbia University professor Bob Holman, writer Joshua Ferris, poet Nathalie Handal, writer and director of International Writing Program (IWP) at The University of Iowa Christopher Merrill and filmmaker Ram Devineni- are on tour as a part of a literary culture exchange program organized by the US embassy in collaboration with Quixote’s Cove (QC).[break]
As poet Handal was still to arrive, The Week caught up with the four writers yesterday, regarding the much awaited program, the details, expectations and anticipations of what the group had in store for an excited crowd in the city.
For more than 40 years, the US state funded, International Writing Program in The University of Iowa has brought together 30-40 writers every year for a three month residency program. “Since 2005, we thought about not just bringing the world to Iowa, but taking American writers to other parts of the world as well,” says Merrill, further adding “We’ve been taking this program to countries like Kenya, U.A.E, Egypt, Nigeria and many more. This year along with Pakistan and Afghanistan, Nepal is also one of the places we wanted to explore.”
The program, he says, will focus on readings, talking about the writer’s works, discussions, workshops, and larger issues regarding literary culture in Nepal. With lecture programs at Kathmandu and Tribhuwan University, they intend to maximize exposure and introduce elements of the IWP workshop model in Iowa. With it, the writers hope to spark some new writing here.
Poet and performer Holman will be hands on about the performance skills in his workshop. “For the work shop on April 29 and 30 with the young people here, I want to make them recite their work and direct them like a big Hollywood movie, emphasizing on the gesture, tones, voice till their body becomes the perfect medium for their poetry,” shares an excited Holman.
Whereas at the university lecture and program, he’s looking to meddle with Nepali politics, compell students to write, reveal their political state and create dialogues. Like an army of soldiers, he says he wants “to create an army of poets” who can resolve conflicts through their
expressions.
Ferris, on the other hand, says he’s looking to do the exact opposite. “I’m thinking of letting students guide me rather than making them write on something and try to know what they want to write,” he says.
His approach centers around encouraging students to write beyond politics; more on “intimate factors and what’s more authentic to them” Ferris adds.
Ferris who is listed as one of The New Yorker’s 20 best writers under 40, states “writers tend to write with real life autobiographical experiences, with more imaginative and fictional tendency so working with them can depend on the kind of writer that he/she is”. In his opinion, he believes that writers need to be detached from their writings since it could get very autobiographical, yet make it personal enough to actually want to write.
Filmmaker Devineni who also runs a literary magazine will be screening his web series Verse: A murder mystery on Friday April 29 at 2 pm in the Bakery Café at Sundhara. The literary based web series is about a young poet who finds a lost manuscript of a woman poet murdered thirty years ago. The poet is then drawn into the New York City literary world and through the manuscript he tries to find out the identity of the murderer.
They will be screening some excerpts from the movie at the event in Bakery Café keeping the mystery alive. But you can watch it for free online at rattapalax.com
Merrill speaking on behalf of Handal, who is a bilingual writer herself, informs that both of them will not only be discussing the art of poetry but also translations of poetry interchange between the languages. Merrill, who has also worked as a journalist covering events worldwide and teaching translations at the University of Iowa, says it’s very important to understand and appreciate “the music within the language”.
Holman has also been working on the endangered language poetry project. Having documented poetry, written and performed in 88 different languages from all over the world, he’s looking to record poems from various languages in Nepal as well.
Both Holman and Merrill, have recently come up with collaborative poetry books which according to Holman initiates “poets in giving up their individualistic expressions and becoming a part of a bigger project.” Whereas Merrill has worked on a poetry book called “7 poets, 4 days, 1 book” which depicts combined work of seven poets on one elaborate poem. Holman has also worked on Crossing State Lines- An American Renga, which incorporates the Japanese practice of Renga or poets contributing certain lines for a collaborative poem.
“It’s a great practice to bring out ideas and can be so much fun. It’s something you could try out here as well,” says Merrill.
With the program, the group hopes to keep an open mind and share literary traditions. “We hope more than anything to have a dialogue between contemporary American writers, poets and their Nepali counterparts and what we do here during our workshop becomes useful,” concludes Merrill.
Don’t forget to catch the poets and writers spread their magic at Word Mill: Readings and Poetic Performances tonight at Jatra Café, Thamel starting 6pm onwards. They’ll be performing along with some Nepali slam poets from the Word Warriors group.
Note: The lecture on Contemporary American Literature and literary traditions in the Unites States, previously scheduled at Ramalaya and Tribhuwan University for April 27 has been shifted to Monday May 2, 2011.
Related story
Teaching through poetry
-1784277548.webp)
