What I did in Iowa – summary report

Increasingly, I have been using social media to log my actions so I can take leave of memory and live haphazardly. Now again, instead of a nice chatty post, through my jet lag, all that I am posting here is a summary of what I did in Iowa at the International Writing Program. Some day I shall get more conversational. Promise.

For now. This.

1. Had a haibun ‘Selena’ and a poem ‘Baby’ dramatically-read by a group of talented actors at the Global express stage, University of Iowa.
2. Read on the theme ‘brain’ in the Anthology series, Linn Street.
3. Presented on the panel (with Q&A) on ‘Feminism with a little f’, Iowa city public library
4. Presented on Child rights and realities in India, Iowa City Foreign relations council
5. Traveled to Chicago – mid-residency travel
6. Visited Poetry Foundation, Chicago
7. Traveled to Seattle – mid-residency travel
8. Presented at the panel: Technology makeover, Book Festival, Old Capitol Senate chamber, Iowa
9. Read poems ‘Golden city’, ‘Deer’, haibun ‘Stillborn’, ‘Summer Hills’, ‘The behavior of rain’ and an excerpt of my short story ‘Parfum’ at Prairie Lights Bookstore
10. Presented Trikal (Dir. by Shyam Benegal) at Cinematheque with introductions and parting notes.
11. Presented at the class at International Literature Today, Chemistry Building on my country’s literary heritage and what shaped me into and as a writer
12. Participated in the UI Dance collaboration based on an adaptation of my story ‘Dream warriors: Ramayan redux’
13. Presented What we saw on America, farewell day, Iowa city public library
14. Traveled to Portland Maine
15. Brainstormed and rehearsed with the uber-talented team of actors and director at the Portland Stage Company
16. Dramatic readings of my haibun ‘Palimpsest’, ‘Summer Hills’, ‘Samsara’ and one short story ‘Memoir of death’, Portland Stage Company
17. Read poetry at University of Massachusetts, Amherst for Global voices of women writers
18. Traveled to Washington D.C.
19. Visited the Department of State, and presented a brief snippet of our IWP experience
20. Traveled to New York
21. Visited Poet’s House
22. Contributed to our batch of 2015’s compilation of ‘A Fairy Tale’ anthology. My contribution was in 18 haiku – a same language (English) adaptation of Christopher Merrill’s poem ‘Fairy Tale’.
23. Witnessed my flash fiction piece ‘Our Lovers’ translated to Spanish, and ‘Knotted Inside me’ and ‘Stillborn’ translated to Arabic.
24. Guest lectured on ‘Developing the Female Authorial Voice’.