FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sept. 7, 2005

CONTACT: Daniel P. Finney, (515) 271-2833 or Daniel.Finney@drake.edu

RELATIONS BETWEEN WEST, ISLAM IS TOPIC OF WRITERS’ VISIT TO DRAKE

The University of Iowa International Writing Program will present a panel discussion about contemporary issues in the dialogue between the West and the Islamic world at 2:00 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 15, in the Reading Room of Cowles Library, 28th Street and University Avenue.

The “Islam and We” discussion will feature Josef Haslinger (Austria), Said El Haji (The Netherlands), Sherko Fatah (Germany), Yavonne Adhiambo (Tanzania) and Zahive Kundus (Israel).

Through the IWP, 36 writers from 29 countries will be members of the University of Iowa community for the next three months. The program introduces talented writers to America life, enables them to take part in American university life and provides them with time, in a setting congenial to their efforts, to produce literary work. Since 1967, more than a thousand writers from more than 120 countries have attended the IWP, including poets, fiction writers, dramatists, screenwriters and non-fiction writers.

For more information on the Iowa Writers Program visit http://www.uiowa.edu/artsiowa or contact Winston Barclay, (319) 384-0073, or winston-barclay@uiowa.edu.

- 30 -