MUSCAT A delegation of American writers and teachers on a visit to the Sultanate said on Tuesday that they were impressed with the high level of interest among Omani students in creative writing.
At an informal gathering with the media the delegates said interaction with university and college students had been very rewarding leading them to conclude significant progress could be expected from young Omani writers and poets in the years ahead.
The delegates are visiting Oman, Saudi Arabia and Yemen as part of the Middle East Reading and Lecture Tour hosted by the University of Iowa’s International Writing Programme. Their visit is being facilitated by the US Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. The visitors aim to deepen their understanding of the rich cultural and literary traditions of the Arab countries they are touring.
The delegates include Ron Carlson, Director of the Creative Writing programme in fiction at UC Irvine and fiction writer; Patricia Hampl, Professor of English in the MFA programme at the University of Minnesota and a poet; Richard Kenney a poet; Michelle Latiolais, Associate Professor of English University of California and fiction writer and Christopher Merrill, Director of the International Writing Programme at the University of Iowa as well as a poet and writer.
By A Staff Reporter
|
