Applications are open for the Summer Exchange Program in USA. The Summer Institute is a new immersive two-week creative writing and cultural exchange program held in Iowa City, Iowa, U.S., a UNESCO City of Literature, for participants age 18-22 from Pakistan, India, and the U.S. Students from all disciplines – the arts, humanities, sciences, and everything in between – are welcome to apply! This program is free for selected participants and will focus on creative writing and the power of narrative. The Summer Institute’s innovative, inclusive, cross-cultural approach will empower future thought-leaders and help forge new lines of understanding, promote social justice, and foreground diversity, empathy, and community. Participants will come to see writing as a form of action – a personally-empowering skill that can be employed for a social change.

Benefits

The International Writing Program IWP Summer Institute is fully funded. The IWP Summer School will cover:

• Tuition and transportation
• Room and board, materials, instructor fees, printing and photocopying, and can transportation during the program are all fully funded.
• Indian and Pakistani students will receive basic health coverage, per the requirements of being a J-1 visa holder, through the University of Iowa.

Eligibility

• Participants age 18-22 from Pakistan, India, and the U.S.
• This program for students of all academic interests – the arts, humanities, sciences, and everything in between – is free for selected participants, and will focus on creative writing and the power of narrative.
• First and foremost, we want someone who is passionate about creative writing. In the writing samples we want to see what best represents you as a writer today. Given our belief that in order to write, you have to read, we expect you to be an avid reader as well. You don’t necessarily have to have received perfect grades in your English or literature classes, nor will we make you quote U.S., Indian, or Pakistani authors at will.

Documents Required

1.  Creative work in English (6-8 pages). Essays and other forms of nonfiction will not be accepted.

2.  Prompt #1: The 2019 Summer Institute session will include discussion of identity as it relates to creative writing and the life of a writer. Please include 3-5 pages in response to the following:

• In our daily lives, we navigate many different roles—student, sibling, daughter, son, peer. We negotiate family, friends, religious groups, as well as class, gender, race, country, and so many other groups, adjusting the way we speak or behave to fit the demands of each encounter. As we move through the day, we work through how and why we occupy each particular role. What do you consider to be the strongest, most central aspects of your identity? What does it mean to you to be a member of (or be seen as a member of) a particular group? In what way does your identity influence you as a creative writer and reader?

3.  Prompt #2: The 2019 Summer Institute session will include discussion of the personal, national, and cultural/social impacts of the India-Pakistan partition and relations between these two nations. Please include 2-3 pages on the following:

• Conflict is a part of the human condition and oftentimes is unavoidable. How have you been shaped by conflict (interpersonal, generational, national, international, or another), personally or vicariously? Describe the impact of this conflict on, for example, your worldview, your values, how you relate to others, your growth as a person. Finally, in a few sentences, please share how, if at all, the historical and contemporary India-Pakistan conflict affects you.

Application Deadlines:

For International Students:

– The deadline for applying to BTL: Peace and the Writing Experience is March 29, 2019.

– International students are not eligible for BTL: Identity and Belonging.

For American Students:

– The deadline for applying to both BTL sessions is April 26, 2019.