Central Academy Writers Work with International Authors

Central Academy creative writing students with Hugh Ferrer, associate director of the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa.

Creative writers and their teachers from Central Academy visited the world-renowned Iowa Writer’s Workshop at the University of Iowa on October 1, where they were hosted by authors and staff of the International Writing Program. 

Russian author Alisa Ganieva reads one of her works to Central Academy students.

In the morning, Joe Tiefenthaler, a member of the IWP staff, facilitated a workshop with three international award-winning authors who read from their own works and then shared their insights on writing. The authors who worked with students were:

  • Russian author Alisa Ganieva, a writer of both adult and children’s fiction as well as a writing critic, who won The Gorky Literary Prize in 2008.  She wrote under a male pseudonym and maintained that persona for several months prior to the awards ceremony. No one knew she was a woman until she stepped on stage to receive her award.   
  • Barlen Pyamootoo is a fiction writer from Republic of Mauritus, a small island off the south east coast of Africa. He peppered the students about their reading interests, explaining that great writers must also be great readers. 
  • Bilal Tanweer is Pakistani fiction writer , poet, and translator. He echoed Tanweer’s argument that writers must be well read, but added that it is important not to limit themselves to only one genre. He argues that writers are always writing and the message drives the medium. 

In the afternoon, students participated in a writing workshop with Hugh Ferrrer, associate director of the International Writing Program. Although he’s on sabbatical this semester, he came in especially to direct the class. Central Academy students wrote and shared their own writing, as Ferrer provided immediate and specific feedback. 

At Central Academy, students may take creative writing as an independent study course. Students meet with fellow workshop members and faculty advisors during their lunch periods once a week. The rest of the class is facilitated via an Edmodo website where they post and respond to each other’s works. The students are currently working on submissions for the Scholastic Writing Contest.

Students who attended the workshop were:

  • Olin Carty
  • Eric Chen
  • Danny Comito
  • Jennifer Hugg
  • Will Karr
  • Maureen Lyons
  • Ben Sides
  • Veronica Smith
  • Elaina Steenson
  • Katelyn Stevens
  • Miranda Thomas
  • True Wheeldon

Creative writing teachers at Central Academy are:

  • Sherry Brooks
  • Amy Finnegan
  • Cate Miller
  • Diane Morain

To learn more about the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa, click here.

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