Veteran playwright and University of Malawi (Unima) drama and theatre studies lecturer Smith Likongwe has made the grade for this year’s International Writing Programme (IWP) Fall Residency, which runs from September 1 to November 17.
Likongwe—whose publications include Kamuzu Banda and Other Plays (2019), Living Playscripts: A Trilogy (2018) and Prose, Poetry and Drama: A Malawian Anthology (2023)—is among the 32 selected writers from different countries.
He is the seventh Malawian writer to participate in the programme, following in the footsteps of last year’s recipient in another Unima lecturer Associate Professor Wesley Macheso.
Other Malawian writers who have participated in the programme include Edison Mpina (1982), Professor Steve Chimombo (1997), Steve Sharra (2019) and Shadreck Chikoti (2021).
Writers from other countries that have made the 2024 Fall Residency are Karoline Kamel from Egypt, Nurit Kasztelan from Argentina, Tabish Khair from Denmark and Daryl Li from Singapore.
Likongwe said he was honoured to be part of the programme, describing it as important for Malawi “because it registers itself as one African country that has writers that can be counted on the world stage in spite of the inadequate presence regarding publications”.
“I feel privileged to hoist the Malawi flag at this prestigious writers’ residency because it is a literary communion of the highest order in the world,” the veteran dramatist said.
He revealed that he has a writing project up his sleeves, which he would disclose later as the cooking is not yet complete.
Sharra said yesterday that it was remarkable that four Malawian writers had been selected in the last five years.
“Malawian writing is experiencing a renaissance, and it is happening in the English language as well as in Chichewa. We just witnessed the first ever Malawian writing residency at the University of Malawi. This is an important milestone, which will likely spur more interest and better quality in Malawian writing,” he said.
The IWP is the oldest and largest multinational writing residency in the world.
With a tradition of excellence that has continued over five decades, IWP annually brings outstanding authors from every continent to the University of Iowa in United States of America (USA), a major American research institution internationally renowned for its writing programmes.
The University of Iowa is also home to the Iowa Writers’ Workshop (IWW), which dates back to 1936.
In 2008, Unesco designated Iowa City, which is home to IWP and IWW, as a City of Literature.
The US Department of State is a major source of support for the programme.
Since 1967, over 1,600 writers from more than 160 countries have been in residence at the University of Iowa.
