NYWW in Kathmandu: Himalayan Literature Festival
May 22-June 2, 2024
May 22-June 2, 2024
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NYWW in Kathmandu: Himalayan Literature Festival--an international literary conference hosted by New York Writers Workshop in partnership with White Lotus Bookstore, Kathmandu, featuring Rukmini Bhaya Nair, Ravi Shankar, Yuyutsu Sharma, Tony Barnstone, Rochelle Potkar, Jami Proctor-Xu, Julie Williams-Krishnan, and Tim Tomlinson. Panels, workshops, readings, cultural excursions, flowing into the two-day Himalayan Literary Festival, followed by five nights in the rural areas of the Pokhara Valley on Lake Fewa, and Chitwan National Park, home to tigers, the one-horned rhinoceros, and gharial crocodiles. In the city, visits to temples, yoga & meditation centers, interactions with shamans, and with local poets and writers. In the countryside, encounters with the landscapes of the Annapurna mountains, and with the wildlife of Chitwan.
Dates: May 22 - June 2, 2024.
The Package
SAARC PRICE CHART
NYWW-K: New York Writers Workshop conference 22 May—28 May
HLF: Himalayan Literature Festival 27—28 May
PC: Pokhara-Chitwan excursions
The Package
- eight workshops* – generative and evaluative (*two workshops in temples)
- eight panel talks – a range of topics inc translation, voice, neutrality, image
- welcome drinks + canapes, three dinners, three lunches
- outside cultural events (optional)
- four readings – three faculty readings, one participant reading
- generous free time for writing & exploration
- airport pickup
- inner city transportation to conference events / RT coach to Pokhara
- accommodations at KGH Group properties (links below at †) at each location, breakfast included
- Early Bird Special (until March 15): US $1475
- March 16 onward: US $1845
- *NYWW Members: 20% off full price
- *NYWW Athens/NYWW Sardinia participants: 20% off full price
- *APWT Members: 10% off full price
SAARC PRICE CHART
NYWW-K: New York Writers Workshop conference 22 May—28 May
HLF: Himalayan Literature Festival 27—28 May
PC: Pokhara-Chitwan excursions
- SAARC
- For full package (22 May – 2 June) (NYWW-K, HLF, PC):
- ₹95,000 / 150,000 npr
- For just the NYWW-K conference & HLF (22 – 28 May):
- ₹70,000 / 110,000 npr
- For just the HLF & PC (27 May—2 June):
- ₹70,000 / 110,000 npr
- For just the HLF (27-28 May—three nights accommodations starting 26 May):
- ₹27,000 / 40,000 npr
- For full package (22 May – 2 June) (NYWW-K, HLF, PC):
The Schedule*
May 22
† The KGH Group will be our hosts at the following properties:
May 22 - May 27: Park Village
May 27 - 29 (& June 2): Kathmandu Guest House (home base for Himalayan Literary Festival)
May 29 - 30: Waterfront Resort, Lakefront Pokhara
May 31 - June 2: Machan Country Villa (Chitwan)
May 22
- 6:00 PM Orientation/Meet the Faculty (reception)
- 7:30 NYWW Welcome Dinner
- 9:30 AM Convocation
- 10:15 AM Workshop
- 12:15 PM Lunch
- 2:00 PM Workshop
- 5:30 PM Reading
- 7:15 Dinner (open)
- 9:30 AM Workshop
- 11:15 AM Workshop
- 1:00 PM Lunch
- 2:15 PM Swayambhunath Shrine / Shaman House
- 6:00 PM Reading
- 7:15 Dinner (open)
- 9:00 AM all day excursion/pack lunch
- 7:00 PM Dinner (open)
- 10:00 AM Workshop
- 12:15 PM Lunch
- 2:00 PM Workshop
- 7:00 PM Dinner (open)
- Himalayan Literary Festival Day 1
- workshops/panels/readings/cultural events
- Himalayan Literary Festival Day 2
- workshops/panels/readings/cultural events
- 7:00 PM NYWW Dinner (celebration)
- 8:30 AM depart for Waterfront Resort, Lake Fewa, Pohara
- Evening: discussion/panel
- 9:30 AM Workshop
- Evening: discussion/panel
- 8:30 AM depart for Chitwan National Park
- Evening: discussion/panel
- 9:30 AM Workshop
- Evening: Reading
- Farewell Dinner
- return to Kathmandu
- departures
† The KGH Group will be our hosts at the following properties:
May 22 - May 27: Park Village
May 27 - 29 (& June 2): Kathmandu Guest House (home base for Himalayan Literary Festival)
May 29 - 30: Waterfront Resort, Lakefront Pokhara
May 31 - June 2: Machan Country Villa (Chitwan)
REGISTER by wire/bank transfer to avoid paypal fees:
- TD Bank, N.A. Wilmington, DE
- New York Writers Resources, Inc.
- Acct # 791-5960855
- SWIFT CODE NRTHUS33XXX
- ABA/Routing # 026013673
NOTE: prices reflect paypal processing fee
FAQs
Q: What can you tell me about NYWW in Kathmandu, and/or about NYWW’s international conferences?
A: NYWW is a nonprofit literary organization based in NYC, founded in 2001, offering workshops, conferences, consultations, mentorships, and guidance for writers at all levels, from anywhere. NYWW has hosted two highly successful international conferences: NYWW-Sardinia, 2020, and NYWW-Athens, 2022. We return with NYWW—K with our conference partner, White Lotus Bookstore, founded, owned, and directed by poet Shreejana Bhandari. Nepalese poet and relentless world traveler, Yuyutsu RD Sharma, is a fellow coordinator of the conference and festival. Yuyu’s deep roots in and knowledge of Kathmandu, and broader Nepal, offer us a rare opportunity to dig into the region—its literary and cultural history and present scene, its ubiquitous spiritual life, and the intersections that these threads create. As the founder and editor of Pratik: A Magazine of Contemporary Writing, Yuyu also offers the opportunity for participants to publish conference-generated work in an upcoming issue of this highly esteemed journal. And, together with White Lotus, we host the first Himalayan Literature Festival at the tail end of our conference.
Q: What might participants expect?
A: The May/June NYWW—K sessions begin with an orientation session on Wednesday, May 22. The following morning, the work begins. Each day will feature panel discussions, craft-and-manuscript workshops, and free (writing and/or exploration) time. Two workshop sessions will take place in local temples. On several nights in Kathmandu, the conference will convene for readings, and/or discussions/lectures/keynotes, followed by cultural events. NYWW will host one dinner (which is included in the tuition). Local and international writers will join the conference for events (readings/discussions/dinners). Local guides will be available for tours of the city (optional). We’ll also be offering photography workshops at this conference, with the renowned Julie Williams-Krishnan. All workshops and other activities are optional. Any and all are included in the price of the tuition.
The Himalayan Literature Festival (HLF) runs from May 27 - May 28, with multiple events (panels, readings, book launches, performances) at two primary locations, the Kathmandu Guest House and White Lotus Book Shop. Numerous Nepalese and regional writers, including Rukmini Bhaya Nair, K. Satchidanandan, and Sudeep Sen will participate alongside writers from Australia, China, Greece, Panama, Poland, South Africa, the UK, and the US.
Q: What does the tuition cover, and not cover?
A: Tuition covers all workshop and cultural activities listed above. Tuition does not include travel. Remember, NYWW—K can assist in locating budget options for those who request accommodations other than Park Village .
Q: If I need to cancel, will I receive a refund?
A: Our REFUND POLICY† is:
o Through April 1
§ Full refunds* issued until April 1 (and at any time should the program cancel due to geopolitical, biomedical, or meteorological events).
o April 15
§ 50% refund.
o May 1
§ 25% refund.
o After May 1
§ No refund.
† 15% non-refundable deposit on all registrations.
* If wire/electronic transfer, minus $25 fee. If Paypal, minus the Paypal service charge.
Q: Where will we be staying?
The KGH Group will be our hosts at the following properties:
May 22 - May 27: Park Village
May 27 - 29: Kathmandu Guest House (home base for Himalayan Literary Festival)
May 29 - May 31: Waterfront Resort (on the lakefront, Pokhara)
May 31 - June 2: Machan Country Villa (Chitwan)
These are highly reputable four-star establishments with a long history of accommodating western visitors. Food, hygiene, and space are all exemplary.
Q: Do you have options for those who cannot afford the tuition?
A: Once accepted into the program, you might be able to apply for additional funding through your school or university. We encourage you to apply early, to leave more time for exploring additional funding options.
A small number of needs-based fellowships might also be available. Please send us a brief email outlining your financial circumstances, if you would like to be considered for one.
Q: How do I get there?
A: From North America (east coast or west), we recommend Air India. It is the most direct (one-stops to Delhi) and the most economical, with the most options. Participants coming in from elsewhere (Australia, the EU, South America, Africa) should explore options. We can provide some (limited) research assistance. Delhi is more than likely the hub most participants will be using. From Delhi, flight times are ≈ 90 minutes.
If you arrive within the range of hours we’ll be suggesting (in the mid-March newsletter), you will be met at the airport with a coach and transferred to the Park Village resort (a trip of ≈ thirty minutes).
Q: What do I need to know about travel in Kathmandu/Nepal? Is a visa required? What do I need to bring along?
A: All of these questions, and more, will be answered in a newsletter in late April. US travelers apply for visa on arrival. But for now, you might to check out this and this and this. Meanwhile, AccuWeather offers these figures for temperature expectations in May 2024:
Q: How about vaccinations?
A: You can find CDC Guidelines here: CDC Nepal. Participants should check with their physicians, get recommendations based upon particular health needs. At this point, there are no new Covid guidelines. The Nepalese consulate here in NY recommends that, as a precaution, everyone travel with proof of prior vaccinations, but as of today (April 25), proof is not requested or required.
Q: What plans has NYWW implemented in order to assure the safety of participants? Are there any travel advisories that participants should consider?
Kathmandu has long been a touristed city, and Nepal a touristed nation. Its health infrastructure is highly developed. Worries regarding care should medical urgencies arise should be allayed. We keep an eye on, and we’ll relay, and US State Department advisories regarding travel in Nepal. The US Embassy in Nepal updates as necessary.
Kathmandu is ≈ 1400 meters above sea level; altitude sickness is not a problem. But remember, Sagarmatha (Everest) is nearby. Leave the city in that direction, and you will climb.
Q: Other.
The conference provide local guides for most off-site activities within Kathmandu.
Most inner-city transportation will be provided.
NYWW expects that all participants will read up on local conditions and make decisions that are safe for them, based on their individual, specific needs.
If any of your questions are not answered here, you can keep returning to our FAQ section, which we frequently update with useful, important information. And you can always write to us directly at [email protected]
Namaste
Q: What can you tell me about NYWW in Kathmandu, and/or about NYWW’s international conferences?
A: NYWW is a nonprofit literary organization based in NYC, founded in 2001, offering workshops, conferences, consultations, mentorships, and guidance for writers at all levels, from anywhere. NYWW has hosted two highly successful international conferences: NYWW-Sardinia, 2020, and NYWW-Athens, 2022. We return with NYWW—K with our conference partner, White Lotus Bookstore, founded, owned, and directed by poet Shreejana Bhandari. Nepalese poet and relentless world traveler, Yuyutsu RD Sharma, is a fellow coordinator of the conference and festival. Yuyu’s deep roots in and knowledge of Kathmandu, and broader Nepal, offer us a rare opportunity to dig into the region—its literary and cultural history and present scene, its ubiquitous spiritual life, and the intersections that these threads create. As the founder and editor of Pratik: A Magazine of Contemporary Writing, Yuyu also offers the opportunity for participants to publish conference-generated work in an upcoming issue of this highly esteemed journal. And, together with White Lotus, we host the first Himalayan Literature Festival at the tail end of our conference.
Q: What might participants expect?
A: The May/June NYWW—K sessions begin with an orientation session on Wednesday, May 22. The following morning, the work begins. Each day will feature panel discussions, craft-and-manuscript workshops, and free (writing and/or exploration) time. Two workshop sessions will take place in local temples. On several nights in Kathmandu, the conference will convene for readings, and/or discussions/lectures/keynotes, followed by cultural events. NYWW will host one dinner (which is included in the tuition). Local and international writers will join the conference for events (readings/discussions/dinners). Local guides will be available for tours of the city (optional). We’ll also be offering photography workshops at this conference, with the renowned Julie Williams-Krishnan. All workshops and other activities are optional. Any and all are included in the price of the tuition.
The Himalayan Literature Festival (HLF) runs from May 27 - May 28, with multiple events (panels, readings, book launches, performances) at two primary locations, the Kathmandu Guest House and White Lotus Book Shop. Numerous Nepalese and regional writers, including Rukmini Bhaya Nair, K. Satchidanandan, and Sudeep Sen will participate alongside writers from Australia, China, Greece, Panama, Poland, South Africa, the UK, and the US.
Q: What does the tuition cover, and not cover?
A: Tuition covers all workshop and cultural activities listed above. Tuition does not include travel. Remember, NYWW—K can assist in locating budget options for those who request accommodations other than Park Village .
Q: If I need to cancel, will I receive a refund?
A: Our REFUND POLICY† is:
o Through April 1
§ Full refunds* issued until April 1 (and at any time should the program cancel due to geopolitical, biomedical, or meteorological events).
o April 15
§ 50% refund.
o May 1
§ 25% refund.
o After May 1
§ No refund.
† 15% non-refundable deposit on all registrations.
* If wire/electronic transfer, minus $25 fee. If Paypal, minus the Paypal service charge.
Q: Where will we be staying?
The KGH Group will be our hosts at the following properties:
May 22 - May 27: Park Village
May 27 - 29: Kathmandu Guest House (home base for Himalayan Literary Festival)
May 29 - May 31: Waterfront Resort (on the lakefront, Pokhara)
May 31 - June 2: Machan Country Villa (Chitwan)
These are highly reputable four-star establishments with a long history of accommodating western visitors. Food, hygiene, and space are all exemplary.
Q: Do you have options for those who cannot afford the tuition?
A: Once accepted into the program, you might be able to apply for additional funding through your school or university. We encourage you to apply early, to leave more time for exploring additional funding options.
A small number of needs-based fellowships might also be available. Please send us a brief email outlining your financial circumstances, if you would like to be considered for one.
Q: How do I get there?
A: From North America (east coast or west), we recommend Air India. It is the most direct (one-stops to Delhi) and the most economical, with the most options. Participants coming in from elsewhere (Australia, the EU, South America, Africa) should explore options. We can provide some (limited) research assistance. Delhi is more than likely the hub most participants will be using. From Delhi, flight times are ≈ 90 minutes.
If you arrive within the range of hours we’ll be suggesting (in the mid-March newsletter), you will be met at the airport with a coach and transferred to the Park Village resort (a trip of ≈ thirty minutes).
Q: What do I need to know about travel in Kathmandu/Nepal? Is a visa required? What do I need to bring along?
A: All of these questions, and more, will be answered in a newsletter in late April. US travelers apply for visa on arrival. But for now, you might to check out this and this and this. Meanwhile, AccuWeather offers these figures for temperature expectations in May 2024:
Q: How about vaccinations?
A: You can find CDC Guidelines here: CDC Nepal. Participants should check with their physicians, get recommendations based upon particular health needs. At this point, there are no new Covid guidelines. The Nepalese consulate here in NY recommends that, as a precaution, everyone travel with proof of prior vaccinations, but as of today (April 25), proof is not requested or required.
Q: What plans has NYWW implemented in order to assure the safety of participants? Are there any travel advisories that participants should consider?
Kathmandu has long been a touristed city, and Nepal a touristed nation. Its health infrastructure is highly developed. Worries regarding care should medical urgencies arise should be allayed. We keep an eye on, and we’ll relay, and US State Department advisories regarding travel in Nepal. The US Embassy in Nepal updates as necessary.
Kathmandu is ≈ 1400 meters above sea level; altitude sickness is not a problem. But remember, Sagarmatha (Everest) is nearby. Leave the city in that direction, and you will climb.
Q: Other.
The conference provide local guides for most off-site activities within Kathmandu.
Most inner-city transportation will be provided.
NYWW expects that all participants will read up on local conditions and make decisions that are safe for them, based on their individual, specific needs.
If any of your questions are not answered here, you can keep returning to our FAQ section, which we frequently update with useful, important information. And you can always write to us directly at [email protected]
Namaste
The Faculty
TONY BARNSTONE teaches at Whittier College and is the author of 22 books and a music CD, including Pulp Sonnets; Beast in the Apartment; Buda en Llamas: Antología poética (bilingual); Tongue of War: From Pearl Harbor to Nagasaki; The Golem of Los Angeles; Sad Jazz: Sonnets; and Impure. He is also a translator or co-translator of world literature, primarily Chinese but also Spanish and Urdu. Among his awards are: The Poets Prize, the Strokestown International Prize, the Pushcart Prize in Poetry, The John Ciardi Prize, The Benjamin Saltman Award, and fellowships from the NEA, NEH, and California Arts Council. He co-edited the anthologies Republic of Apples, Democracy of Oranges: New Eco-Poetry from China and the United States; Dead and Undead Poems; and Monster Verse. His new publications are a co-translation from the Urdu, Faces Hidden in the Dust: Selected Ghazals of Ghalib and a creativity tool, The Radiant Tarot: Pathway to Creativity. He is currently working on a libretto for an opera. Click to visit Tony’s website.
Rukmini Bhaya Nair is a Delhi-based poet and professor of linguistics and English at the Indian Institute of Technology. Described by poet Keki Daruwalla as the author of “the first significant volume of post-modern poetry written by an Indian”, she has published three books of poetry: The Hyoid Bone (1992), The Ayodhya Cantos (1999) and Yellow Hibiscus (2004) as well as a highly acclaimed novel Mad Girl's Love Song (HarperCollins, 2013) and most recently a linguistics monograph, Keywords for India: A Conceptual Lexicon for the 21st Century. (Bloomsbury Academic. 2020). Nair studied in Kolkata and England, and obtained her doctorate from the University of Cambridge in 1982. Widely recognised for her work in the areas of linguistics, cognition and literary theory, she has taught at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, the National University of Singapore and the University of Washington at Seattle. Her creative and critical writings are taught on courses at universities such as Chicago, Kent, Oxford and Washington. Her ‘polyphonous’ literary style seeks to connect her varied interests in literary theory and cultural studies. She claims that the impulse to turn out “fat academic volumes and fragile books of verse” is the same in her case – to discover the limits of language. Her ambition, she says, “is simply to write and research, whatever the genre and whatever the odds”. In 1990, Nair won the first prize in the All India Poetry Society/ British Council competition. Her work has since appeared in Penguin New Writing in India (1992), Reasons for Belonging: Fourteen Contemporary Indian Poets (2002), and several other anthologies. It has also been translated into languages as varied as Swedish, Macedonian, Bengali and Hindi.
Widely anthologized, Rochelle Potkar is a prize-winning poet, author, and screenwriter based in Mumbai. She is the author of Four Degrees of Separation (poetry), Paper Asylum (haibun) - shortlisted for the Rabindranath Tagore Literary Prize 2020, and Bombay Hangovers (short fiction). An alumna of Iowa’s International Writing Program (2015) and a Charles Wallace Writer’s fellow, University. of Stirling (2017), her poetry film Skirt featured on Shonda Rhime's Shondaland via the Visible Poetry Project. She is on the syllabus boards (English Lit) of two top universities in Mumbai. As a creative-writing mentor, she conducts online poetry workshops for the Himalayan Writing Retreat and was invited thrice to Iowa’s International Writing Programs: Summer Institute 2019 and Between the Lines 2022, 2023 as a creative-writing teacher. Her prize-winning manuscript of poetry Coins in Rivers is due out in April 2024 by Hachette India. (@rochellepotkar)
Jami Proctor Xu is an award winning bilingual poet and translator who writes in Chinese and English. Her poems and translations have been widely published and anthologized in many countries. She has co-organized international poetry events in China, South Africa, Eswatini, Lesotho, and Ethiopia, and she frequently reads at poetry festivals around the world. Her current projects include Pagoda, her second full-length collection in Chinese, The Black Sheep of Jilebute, translations of poems by Jidi Majia (forthcoming in Ireland), Say to the Soul, translations of poems by Xiao Xiao, and The Rain Train, co-translations of poems by Biplab Majee (forthcoming in Kolkata). She loves teaching poetry workshops to children and adults, and spending time with poets and artists from around the world.
RAVI SHANKAR Pushcart-prize winning poet, author, editor, translator, and professor, Ravi Shankar is the author and editor of over fifteen books and chapbooks of poetry, including, most recently, Tallying the Hemispheres: Selected Essays, and the award-winning memoir, Correctional. Other books include Many Uses of Mint: New and Selected Poems: 1998-2018 ; Language for a New Century: Contemporary Poetry from Asia, the Middle East, and Beyond; Autobiography of a Goddess; Deepening Groove; What Else Could it Be; and Instrumentality, poems from which have appeared around the world. Translated into over 12 languages and recipient of a Glenna Luschei Award from Prairie Schooner as well as winner of the Gulf Coast Poetry Prize, Shankar has taught at such institutions as Columbia University, Fairfield University, the City University of Hong Kong and the University of Sydney. He has held fellowships from the Corporation of Yaddo, the MacDowell Colony, the Jentel Foundation, the Atlantic Center for the Arts, the Blue Mountain Center and many others. He currently teaches for New York Writers Workshop and Tufts University and lives a nomadic existence centered around Boston, Massachusetts and Sydney, Australia.
YUYUTSU SHARMA Recipient of fellowships and grants from The Rockefeller Foundation, Ireland Literature Exchange, Trubar Foundation, Slovenia, The Institute for the Translation of Hebrew Literature and The Foundation for the Production and Translation of Dutch Literature, Yuyutsu Ram Dass Sharma is a world renowned Himalayan poet and translator. Yuyutsu Sharma is one of the few poets in the world who make their living with poetry. Named as “The world-renowned Himalayan poet,” (The Guardian) “One-Man Academy” (The Kathmandu Post) and “Himalayan Neruda” (Mike Graves), Yuyutsu is a vibrant force on the world poetry stage. He has published ten poetry collections including, The Second Buddha Walk, A Blizzard in my Bones: New York Poems, Quaking Cantos: Nepal Earthquake Poems, Nepal Trilogy, Space Cake, Amsterdam and Annapurna Poems. Three books of his poetry, Poemes de l’ Himalayas (L’Harmattan, Paris), Poemas de Los Himalayas (Cosmopoeticia, Cordoba, Spain) and Jezero Fewa & Konj (Sodobnost International) have appeared in French, Spanish and Slovenian respectively. In addition, Eternal Snow: A Worldwide Anthology of One Hundred Twenty-Five Poetic Intersections with Himalayan Poet Yuyutsu RD Sharma has also appeared. Half the year, he travels and reads all over the world and conducts Creative Writing workshops at various universities in North America and Europe. When back home, he goes trekking in the Himalayas. Currently, Yuyutsu Sharma edits Pratik: A Quarterly Magazine of Contemporary Writing.
TIM TOMLINSON Tim Tomlinson is the author of the chapbook Yolanda: An Oral History in Verse, the poetry collection, Requiem for the Tree Fort I Set on Fire, and the short story collection, This Is Not Happening to You. Recent work appears in Bangalore Literary Review, Live Encounters, Tin Can Literary Review, and Best Asian Short Stories 2023 (ed. Dr Anitha Dev Pillai). A new collection, Listening to Fish: meditations from the wet world, will appear on Nirala in Spring 2024. Tim has lived in the Bahamas, China, Italy, the Philippines, Thailand, and various cities in the US, including New Orleans, Miami, Boston, and New York City. He is the director of New York Writers Workshop, and co-author of its popular text, The Portable MFA in Creative Writing. He teaches writing in NYU’s Global Liberal Studies.
Julie Williams-Krishnan is a fine art and freelance photographer, artist, and educator who teaches photography and leads workshops at university and community level. Julie served as the Director of Programs at the Griffin Museum of Photography in Winchester, Massachusetts (USA) for five years. She has served a juror for the Somerville Arts Council and the Winchester Public Schools, a committee member for FlashPoint Boston photography festival, and on the committee for the Renaissance Photography Prize, an international photography competition that raises money to support younger women with breast cancer. Julie’s personal photographic practice investigates identity and personal narrative. She has exhibited her photographs at Melrose Tiny Gallery, The Sanctuary, Cambridge Art Association, the Griffin Museum of Photography, the Khaki Gallery, and Zullo Gallery in the Boston region, the Colson Gallery in Easthampton, Massachusetts, and The Center for Fine Art Photography in Colorado, A. Smithson Gallery in Texas, as well as other venues in Boston, London, and Oxford. She has also been included in online exhibitions with “Don’t Take Pictures” and “Lenscratch.” She earned her MA in Photographic Studies from the University of Westminster in London, UK. Based in Boston Massachusetts (USA) since 2010, Julie lived in London (UK) for more than 16 years and has traveled to more than 75 countries. She lives in a multi-cultural family and travels regularly to India. Learn more about Julie’s work at www.jwkphotography.com and on instagram.
Annie Zaidi is the author of City of Incident; Prelude to a Riot; Bread, Cement, Cactus: A memoir of belonging and dislocation. She is also the editor of Unbound: 2000 Years of Indian Women's Writing. Other published works include the novella Gulab, one collection of short stories Love Stories # 1 to 14, and a collection of essays Bantering with Bandits and Other True Tales. She is also the co-author of The Good Indian Girl (with Smriti Ravindra) and a short book of illustrated poems Crush (with Gynelle Alves). She received the Tata Literature Live Award for fiction (2020) for Prelude to a Riot, which was also shortlisted for the JCB prize the same year, and the Nine Dots Prize (2019) for her essay Bread, Cement, Cactus. She won The Hindu Playwright Award (2018) for her script Untitled 1 and her radio script ‘Jam’ was named regional (South Asia) winner for the BBC’s International Playwriting Competition (2011). Her work has appeared in several anthologies and literary journals including The Griffith Review, The Aleph Review, The Massachusetts Review, The Portside Review, The Missing Slate and Out of Print. She trained as a journalist and has published essays and columns in several magazines and websites, including Caravan, Republica (Italy), Griffith Review (Australia), Frontline, The Hindu, Scroll.in, BBC Hindi, Outlook, Mint Lounge, First Post, DNA, Open, Elle, GQ India and Conde Nast Traveller. She has also written and directed several short films and the documentary film, In her words: The journey of Indian women. She is currently a doctoral scholar at Durham University.
NYWW conferences past.
NYWW in Athens: May 22 - May 29
Seven nights in boutique hotels, workshops at the Old University of Athens, visit to Delphi, readings/events in temples and ruins.
NEWSFLASH April 9: Australian novelist Julia Prendergast (The Earth Does Not Get Fat) joins faculty for NYWW in Athens & NYWW in Hydra.
In Athens, Dr Prendergast will offer a workshop featuring her pioneer methodologies involving ideasthetic imagining. She'll also participate in Stories on the Couch, for which Dr Vasilis Manousakis will apply psychoanalysis to stories, characters (and authors!). On Hydra, she'll offer a talk on ex-pat Australian authors Charmian Clift, George Johnston and their influence on the Leonard Cohen circle.
Seven nights in boutique hotels, workshops at the Old University of Athens, visit to Delphi, readings/events in temples and ruins.
NEWSFLASH April 9: Australian novelist Julia Prendergast (The Earth Does Not Get Fat) joins faculty for NYWW in Athens & NYWW in Hydra.
In Athens, Dr Prendergast will offer a workshop featuring her pioneer methodologies involving ideasthetic imagining. She'll also participate in Stories on the Couch, for which Dr Vasilis Manousakis will apply psychoanalysis to stories, characters (and authors!). On Hydra, she'll offer a talk on ex-pat Australian authors Charmian Clift, George Johnston and their influence on the Leonard Cohen circle.
THE SCHEDULE*
May 22: Arrival -- NYWW hosted dinner, introduction to faculty, staff, orientation
May 23 - 24: Morning/afternoon workshops (in prose, poetry, translation); 1-2 days free. Evening events.
May 25: Morning free, afternoon workshop followed by panel/reading. NYWW hosted dinner.
May 26: Trip to Delphi, tour of temple and ruins, NYWW hosted lunch, workshop in temple/ruins.
May 27: Morning workshops; afternoon free. Evening panel/reading.
May 28: Morning free; late afternoon workshop, followed by panel, reading, dinner/celebration/collaborations hosted by Hellenic Foundation for Culture.
May 29: Depart -- for NYWW in Hydra (see † below for details), or home, or elsewhere.
*Keynote addresses will be offered by our featured guest writer, Kim Addonizio, and by a local writer (details tk).
Breakfast is included at all locations. NYWW will host three dinners: Sunday welcome, Wednesday celebration, and Saturday farewell, and two lunches, at our workshop location, the Old University of Athens, and in Delphi. For all other meals, participants are free to explore the many rich options available--suggestions from locals will always be available.
All our accommodations are in Plaka, in close (walking) proximity to each other, to the University of Athens, and to the Acropolis and Acropolis Museum.
They are: Home & Poetry, Acropolis Select, and the Adams Hotel.
Our sessions will be joined by local authors and students. Local authors as well as our team will offer readings and craft talks, and local writers/students will be integrated in as many activities as possible.
On Sunday, May 29, we say goodbye to Athens, and some of us will continue, by ferry, to the nearby island of Hydra (see † below).
SCHOLARSHIPS for International Writers Under Thirty
Three scholarship winners for NYWW in Athens:
E.R. Pulgar is a Venezuelan American poet, journalist, editor and translator based in New York City. Their criticism has appeared in i-D, Rolling Stone, Playboy, and elsewhere. Their poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Epiphany, PANK Magazine and b l u s h. They have designed interdisciplinary writing courses for Catapult, Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY, and The New York Public Library. They run Endless Blue, a monthly queer salon and reading series at the Bowery Poetry Club.
Ashley Somwaru is an Indo-Caribbean woman who was born and raised in Queens, New York. She received an MFA in poetry from CUNY Queens College. Somwaru has published a chapbook with Ghostbird Press in 2021 titled, Urgent \\ Where The Mind Goes \\ Scattered. Previous work can be seen in Honey Literary, Solstice, SWWIM, The Margins, VIDA Review, and elsewhere.
Dean Kerrison is an Australian who can be a bit of a rascal if he’s had enough sleep but the tone of his writing doesn’t always reflect that. His work often focuses on the (dis)connection of the outsider in foreign lands and has been published in TEXT Journal, Meniscus, The Bangalore Review, Joao Roque Literary Journal, Usawa Literary Review, The Incompleteness Book II, The Lit Quarterly, Allegory Ridge, among others.
NYWW offers one full scholarship (covers everything but airfare), and two partial scholarships. To apply, write to newyorkwritersworkshop@gmail. In your cover letter, tell us where you're at in your writing, and attach a sample (5-8 pp prose, 5 poems). We'll announce scholarship winners in February. Apply here: NYWW in Athens Scholarships for Writers Under Thirty.
Scroll down to meet our local scholars, Marina Galanou and Rami Alexios Ampou-Chantizi
Cost: $2985* (includes workshops, accommodations, events)
Early Bird Special: $2875 (thru Feb 14, 2022)
*for Sardinia Conference participants: $2675
*for APWT members: $2745
DEPOSIT: $500 (Full Payment Due by March 15, 2022)
Refund Policy: Full Refund until April 1, 2022; 50% until April 15; 25% Refund until May 1; after May 1, no refund
Register: to avoid fees and other irritations, we recommend using Paypal (button below), especially if you're registering from outside the US. If you need to wire transfer, write to [email protected] for details; wire transfers may be subject to an additional fee.
† The Hydra Supplement: Five Nights (May 29 - June 3)
When NYWW in Athens closes, NYWW in Hydra opens. On May 29, we board a ferry for nearby Hydra, the island famous for its arts, beaches, and Leonard Cohen's long-time residency. On the island, faculty and participants will stay in several Douskos properties: the Port House, the Guest House, and the Beach House. Each is either at or near the port and beaches, each is within walking distance of the others. We'll continue to gather in the mornings and late afternoons for workshops, panels, and readings (in the same spaces where Leonard Cohen and Australian ex-pat writers Charmian Clift & George Johnston gathered). We'll also intersect with some of the island's cultural events and host one of our own. NYWW will host one dinner on the island.
Cost:
DEPOSIT: $500 (Full Payment Due by March 15, 2022)
Refund Policy: Full Refund until April 1, 2022; 50% until April 15; 25% Refund until May 1; after May 1, no refund
The Faculty*
May 22: Arrival -- NYWW hosted dinner, introduction to faculty, staff, orientation
May 23 - 24: Morning/afternoon workshops (in prose, poetry, translation); 1-2 days free. Evening events.
May 25: Morning free, afternoon workshop followed by panel/reading. NYWW hosted dinner.
May 26: Trip to Delphi, tour of temple and ruins, NYWW hosted lunch, workshop in temple/ruins.
May 27: Morning workshops; afternoon free. Evening panel/reading.
May 28: Morning free; late afternoon workshop, followed by panel, reading, dinner/celebration/collaborations hosted by Hellenic Foundation for Culture.
May 29: Depart -- for NYWW in Hydra (see † below for details), or home, or elsewhere.
*Keynote addresses will be offered by our featured guest writer, Kim Addonizio, and by a local writer (details tk).
Breakfast is included at all locations. NYWW will host three dinners: Sunday welcome, Wednesday celebration, and Saturday farewell, and two lunches, at our workshop location, the Old University of Athens, and in Delphi. For all other meals, participants are free to explore the many rich options available--suggestions from locals will always be available.
All our accommodations are in Plaka, in close (walking) proximity to each other, to the University of Athens, and to the Acropolis and Acropolis Museum.
They are: Home & Poetry, Acropolis Select, and the Adams Hotel.
Our sessions will be joined by local authors and students. Local authors as well as our team will offer readings and craft talks, and local writers/students will be integrated in as many activities as possible.
On Sunday, May 29, we say goodbye to Athens, and some of us will continue, by ferry, to the nearby island of Hydra (see † below).
SCHOLARSHIPS for International Writers Under Thirty
Three scholarship winners for NYWW in Athens:
E.R. Pulgar is a Venezuelan American poet, journalist, editor and translator based in New York City. Their criticism has appeared in i-D, Rolling Stone, Playboy, and elsewhere. Their poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Epiphany, PANK Magazine and b l u s h. They have designed interdisciplinary writing courses for Catapult, Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY, and The New York Public Library. They run Endless Blue, a monthly queer salon and reading series at the Bowery Poetry Club.
Ashley Somwaru is an Indo-Caribbean woman who was born and raised in Queens, New York. She received an MFA in poetry from CUNY Queens College. Somwaru has published a chapbook with Ghostbird Press in 2021 titled, Urgent \\ Where The Mind Goes \\ Scattered. Previous work can be seen in Honey Literary, Solstice, SWWIM, The Margins, VIDA Review, and elsewhere.
Dean Kerrison is an Australian who can be a bit of a rascal if he’s had enough sleep but the tone of his writing doesn’t always reflect that. His work often focuses on the (dis)connection of the outsider in foreign lands and has been published in TEXT Journal, Meniscus, The Bangalore Review, Joao Roque Literary Journal, Usawa Literary Review, The Incompleteness Book II, The Lit Quarterly, Allegory Ridge, among others.
NYWW offers one full scholarship (covers everything but airfare), and two partial scholarships. To apply, write to newyorkwritersworkshop@gmail. In your cover letter, tell us where you're at in your writing, and attach a sample (5-8 pp prose, 5 poems). We'll announce scholarship winners in February. Apply here: NYWW in Athens Scholarships for Writers Under Thirty.
Scroll down to meet our local scholars, Marina Galanou and Rami Alexios Ampou-Chantizi
Cost: $2985* (includes workshops, accommodations, events)
Early Bird Special: $2875 (thru Feb 14, 2022)
*for Sardinia Conference participants: $2675
*for APWT members: $2745
DEPOSIT: $500 (Full Payment Due by March 15, 2022)
Refund Policy: Full Refund until April 1, 2022; 50% until April 15; 25% Refund until May 1; after May 1, no refund
Register: to avoid fees and other irritations, we recommend using Paypal (button below), especially if you're registering from outside the US. If you need to wire transfer, write to [email protected] for details; wire transfers may be subject to an additional fee.
- Paypal: NYWW in Athens (deposit or pay in full)
- Brown Paper: Buy tickets for NYWW in ATHENS
† The Hydra Supplement: Five Nights (May 29 - June 3)
When NYWW in Athens closes, NYWW in Hydra opens. On May 29, we board a ferry for nearby Hydra, the island famous for its arts, beaches, and Leonard Cohen's long-time residency. On the island, faculty and participants will stay in several Douskos properties: the Port House, the Guest House, and the Beach House. Each is either at or near the port and beaches, each is within walking distance of the others. We'll continue to gather in the mornings and late afternoons for workshops, panels, and readings (in the same spaces where Leonard Cohen and Australian ex-pat writers Charmian Clift & George Johnston gathered). We'll also intersect with some of the island's cultural events and host one of our own. NYWW will host one dinner on the island.
Cost:
- $845 (for those who've signed on for NYWW in Athens)
- $1025 (for those signing on only for NYWW in Hydra)
DEPOSIT: $500 (Full Payment Due by March 15, 2022)
Refund Policy: Full Refund until April 1, 2022; 50% until April 15; 25% Refund until May 1; after May 1, no refund
The Faculty*
- Kim Addonizio is the author of seven poetry collections, two novels, two story collections, and two books on writing poetry: The Poet’s Companion (with Dorianne Laux) and Ordinary Genius. Her poetry collection Tell Me was a finalist for the National Book Award. She also has two word/music CDS: Swearing, Smoking, Drinking, & Kissing (with Susan Browne) and My Black Angel, the companion to My Black Angel: Blues Poems and Portraits, a collaboration with woodcut artist Charles D. Jones. Her poetry has been translated into several languages including Spanish, Arabic, Italian, and Hungarian. Collections have been published in China, Spain, Mexico, Lebanon, and the UK. Addonizio’s awards include two fellowships from the NEA, a Guggenheim, two Pushcart Prizes, and other honors. Her latest books are a poetry collection, Mortal Trash (W.W. Norton), and a memoir, Bukowski in a Sundress: Confessions from a Writing Life (Penguin). A new book of poems, Now We’re Getting Somewhere, was published by W.W. Norton (March 2021).
- Moira Egan A resident of Rome, Italy, Moira Egan earned a BA from Bryn Mawr College, an MA from the Johns Hopkins University Writing Seminars, and an MFA from Columbia University, where James Merrill chose her graduate manuscript for the David Craig Austin Prize. Her most recent collection, Synæsthesium (2017), won The New Criterion Poetry Prize. Previous books published in the U.S. are Hot Flash Sonnets (2013); Spin (2010); Bar Napkin Sonnets (2009), which won the 2008 Ledge Poetry Chapbook Competition; and Cleave (2004). In Italy, three bilingual collections, with translations by her husband, Damiano Abeni, have appeared: Olfactorium (2018), Botanica Arcana / Strange Botany (2014), and La Seta della Cravatta / The Silk of the Tie (2009). She has also translated (with Damiano Abeni) the work of several authors into Italian, including volumes by John Ashbery, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Charles Simic, Mark Strand, and Charles Wright. Egan has had writing residencies at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (as a Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation Fellow), the Civitella Ranieri Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Center, and the James Merrill House. She teaches Creative Writing at the St. Stephen’s School in Rome.
- Damiano Abeni is an epidemiologist. He has been translating American poetry since 1973, when he spent a year in Arizona. He collaborates with numerous publishing houses and literary magazines, and is an honorary citizen on cultural merits of the cities of Tucson, Arizona, and Baltimore, Maryland. He lives in Rome with his wife, the poet Moira Egan.
- Vasilis Manousakis is a short-story writer, poet and translator, whose work has appeared in New American Writing, Hayden's Ferry Review, Barcelona Ink, Parentheses and Drunken Boat among others. He writes reviews and translates poetry and short stories for literary magazines and e-zines. He has been one of the founding members of Bonsai Stories, the blog directly linked to Planodion literary magazine. The blog is dedicated to Flash Fiction and work from many well-known writers from Greece, the United States and other countries has appeared there. These flash stories have been collected in two printed volumes so far and a special tribute to 9/11 stories has appeared in a third volume, in which Vasilis was in the editorial committee. He holds a Ph.D. in Contemporary American Poetry and currently teaches Creative Writing, Modern Poetry, Short Fiction and Literary Translation at the Hellenic American College, Athens, Greece. His focus on the human thought and behavior in his writings has led him to a Master's Program in Mental Health Counselling and he holds individual and group sessions with clients, specialising in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.
- Julia Prendergast is a writer of short and long-form fiction. She lives and works in Melbourne, Australia, on unceded Wurundjeri land. Julia’s novel, The Earth Does Not Get Fat, was published in 2018 and longlisted for the Indie Book Awards for debut fiction. Her short stories have been recognised and published: Lightship Anthology International Short Story Competition (UK), Ink Tears International Short Story Competition (UK), Glimmer Train International Short Story Competition (US), Séan Ó Faoláin International Short Story Competition (IE), TEXT, Elizabeth Jolley Prize, Josephine Ulrick Prize (AU). Julia’s short story collection is forthcoming (October 2022). Julia is Senior Lecturer and Discipline Coordinator (Writing) at Swinburne University. She is Chair of the Australasian Association of Writing Programs (AAWP), the peak academic body representing the discipline of Creative Writing in Australasia. Julia is a practice-led researcher—an enthusiastic supporter of transdisciplinary, open and collaborative research practices, with a particular interest in neuropsychoanalytic approaches to writing and creativity. Her research has appeared in various publications including New Writing (UK), TEXT (AU), Testimony Witness Authority: The Politics and Poetics of Experience (UK).
- Ravi Shankar Pushcart-prize winning poet, author, editor, translator, and professor, Ravi Shankar is the author and editor of over fifteen books and chapbooks of poetry, including the Many Uses of Mint: New and Selected Poems: 1998-2018 (Recent Works Press); W.W. Norton & Co.'s Language for a New Century called a "beautiful achievement for world literature" by Nobel Prize winner Nadine Gordimer; the Muse India Award winning translations of 8th century Tamil poet/saint Autobiography of a Goddess (Zubaan/University of Chicago Press); the National Poetry Review Prize winning Deepening Groove; the Carolina Wren judges award winning What Else Could it Be; and the finalist for the Connecticut Book Awards Instrumentality, poems from which have appeared around the world. Translated into over 12 languages and recipient of a Glenna Luschei Award from Prairie Schooner as well as winner of the Gulf Coast Poetry Prize, Shankar has taught at such institutions as Columbia University, Fairfield University, the City University of Hong Kong and the University of Sydney. He has held fellowships from the Corporation of Yaddo, the MacDowell Colony, the Jentel Foundation, the Atlantic Center for the Arts, the Blue Mountain Center and many others. Recipient of numerous grants and awards, including multiple "Excellence-in-Teaching Awards," his students have gone on to publish dozens of books of their own. Granted fellowships by the New York State Council on the Arts and the Rhode Island State Commission on the Arts, Shankar has been featured in The New York Times, the Chronicle of Higher Education, BBC, NPR and the PBS Newshour. His essays have appeared in such places as the Georgia Review, the Hartford Courant, and for the Poetry Society of America. He has been featured at the Poetry Foundation, the Academy of American Poets, Poetry International and he founded one of the world's oldest electronic journals of the arts, Drunken Boat, winner of a South-by-Southwest Web Award. He currently teaches for the New York Writers Workshop and lives a nomadic existence centered around Boston, Massachusetts and Sydney, Australia. In addition to performances and lectures, he is available for individual consultancy, workshops, editing and mentoring services around the world.
- Tim Tomlinson’s books include Requiem for the Tree Fort I Set on Fire (poetry), This Is Not Happening to You (short fiction), The Portable MFA in Creative Writing (as co-author), and the chapbook Yolanda: An Oral History in Verse. Recent work appears in Another Chicago Magazine, Joao Roque Literary Journal, Litro, and Telephone: A Game of Art Whispered Around the World (Crosstown Press). He’s traveled heavily throughout the Asia-Pacific region, and has lived in China, the Philippines, and Thailand. He’s a co-founder of New York Writers Workshop, and a professor in NYU’s Global Liberal Studies.
GETTING THERE
If you're traveling from the US, we recommend the Tzell Travel Group. For NYWW in Sardinia 2020, Tzell handled air bookings for many of the participants and everyone was pleased with the outcomes.
Contact Tzell Travel Group
If you're traveling from the US, we recommend the Tzell Travel Group. For NYWW in Sardinia 2020, Tzell handled air bookings for many of the participants and everyone was pleased with the outcomes.
Contact Tzell Travel Group
- Al Medina, [email protected] / 212-944-03956
Local scholar Marina Galanou will join us in Athens.
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Local Scholar Rami Alexios Ampou-Chantizi will join us in Athens.
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Marina Galanou earned a BA English Language and Literature, with a minor in psychology from the Hellenic American College. In 2019, she received the President’s Award for Student Leadership. At the University of Nottingham, UK, she earned an MA in Stylistics, where she wrote her dissertation on pragmatics and theater. She would like to continue her studies and pursue a PhD in Theater, as well as an academic career.
Rami Alexios Ampou-Chantitzi, aka James Kingston, holds a BA in English Language and Literature from Hellenic American University, with a minor in theater. He’s been writing long and short forms of fiction in English and in Greek since childhood, and he’s excited to bring those interests to the New York Writers Workshop Conference in Athens, May 2022. Rami says, εγγραφείτε σήμερα υπάρχουν ακόμα θέσεις!
Rami Alexios Ampou-Chantitzi, aka James Kingston, holds a BA in English Language and Literature from Hellenic American University, with a minor in theater. He’s been writing long and short forms of fiction in English and in Greek since childhood, and he’s excited to bring those interests to the New York Writers Workshop Conference in Athens, May 2022. Rami says, εγγραφείτε σήμερα υπάρχουν ακόμα θέσεις!