(GHENT, N.Y.) – A distinguished group of nine writers and translators currently in residence at Writers Omi at Ledig House will read from their work in the Gallery at the Visitors Center of Omi Arts Center on Saturday, May 10, 2014, at 5 pm. The reading is free and open to the public. Following the event, Omi invites visitors to gather for a reception with the writers and barbecue feast, for which donations are suggested.
This group’s many literary accomplishments include an author short-listed for the German Screenplay Award, a travel columnist for the International Jerusalem Post, and writers for such publications as the New Yorker, the New York Times, the Nation, Vogue, W and many more. Their work spans the genres of fiction, nonfiction, translation, and theater. This is the second reading hosted by Writers Omi at Ledig House this spring, in which the current residents have the opportunity to share their work with a public audience.
Reading from their work will be André Naffis-Sahely (Italy/UAE/UK, Poetry/Translation), Diane Broeckhoven (Belgium, Fiction), Alan Asaid (Russia/Sweden, Translation, Nonfiction), Jennifer Steil (US/Bolivia, Fiction/Nonfiction), Abby Aguirre (USA, Nonfiction), Daan Heerma van Voss (Netherlands, Fiction/Nonfiction), Hadia Hago (Sudan/Qatar, Translation), Carsten Kluth (Germany, Fiction), and Iulia Pan? (Romania, Poetry).
André Naffis-Sahely (Italy/UAE/UK, Poetry/Translation) André’s poetry was most recently featured in the Oxford Poets Anthology 2013. He is also a translator from the French and the Italian. Recent publications include The Bottom of the Jar by Abdellatif Laâbi (Archipelago Books, 2013), The Last Days of Stefan Zweig (Pushkin Press, 2013), and Money by Émile Zola (Penguin Classics, 2014). He is presently at work on Where The Shadow Falls Overseas, an 11-novel cycle by the Italian-Libyan author Alessandro Spina, the first volume of which will appear in November 2014.
Diane Broeckhoven (Belgium, Fiction) Diane has published more than 30 books. The first twenty were books for children and young adults. In 1998 she wrote her first novel for adults and since then she only writes for adults. Her short and intimate novel De Buitenkant van Meneer Jules became a worldwide bestseller. The book was translated in 15 languages. Diane lived for thirty years in The Netherlands. She currently lives in Antwerp, where she was born.
Alan Asaid (Russia/Sweden, Translation, Nonfiction) Alan was born in Moscow but grew up in Stockholm. He has worked as a lecturer at Uppsala University, teaching literary translation and Russian literature. Currently he combines writing for newspapers and magazines with literary translation. His translations include works by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Amy Lowell, Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, Nikolai Gogol, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Anton Chekhov and Mikhail Bulgakov. His own writings have appeared in various periodicals in Sweden.
Jennifer Steil (US/Bolivia, Fiction/Nonfiction) Jennifer is the author of The Woman Who Fell From the Sky, An American Woman’s Adventures in the Oldest City on Earth (2010, Broadway Books), the critically lauded memoir of the year she spent as a newspaper editor in Sana’a, Yemen. It has been published in the US, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Turkey, and Poland. Her first novel, The Ambassador’s Wife, which just won the William Faulkner-William Wisdom Best Novel award in 2013, will be published by Doubleday in spring 2015. She lives with her husband and daughter in La Paz, Bolivia, where she is working on two more novels.
Abby Aguirre (US, Nonfiction) Abby is a freelance writer and editor. She has written for The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Nation, Vogue, W, and other places. She grew up in California and Colorado, studied dance at the Escuela Nacional de Arte in Havana, and graduated from Reed College and Columbia University. Before going freelance, Abby worked at The New York Times, on the foreign desk, in the opinion department, and as a features editor at T: The New York Times Style Magazine. Before that, she edited books at The New Press.
Daan Heerma van Voss (Netherlands, Fiction/Nonfiction) Daan is a historian, writer and interviewer. Thus far he has written four novels, one novella, and one book containing his journalistic work, consisting mainly of the interviews for which he received the 2011 De Tegel, award for excellence in journalism.
Hadia Hago (Sudan/Qatar, Translation) Hadia is a Sudanese translator living in Doha, Qatar. She is currently earning her MA in Translation Studies at the Translation and Interpreting Institute at Hamad Bin Khalifa University in Qatar. She translates fiction, poetry, and non-fiction from English into Arabic. She is currently translating a collection of writings by the international award-winning fiction writer Leila Aboulela.
Carsten Kluth (Germany, Fiction) Carsten studied Political Science in Berlin and Albany. He worked as research assistant for DaimlerChrysler, managed a small Public Affairs agency, and worked as teacher for story development for online games. He still writes studies for the EU Commission. His first novel Wenn das Land still ist was published in 2013 (Piper Verlag) and he is currently working on his next novel, which will be titled SÜDWEST. He is married and the father of three.
Iulia Pan? (Romania, Poetry) Iulia was born in Constanta, Romania. She studied communication, social relations and visual arts. In 1996 her first volume Imagine Simpla, received the debut prize at the Sighetul Marmatiei International Festival. In 2003, her book Noaptea Scorpion earned the poetry award from the Romanian Writers Union. In 2008 she released Contrasecunde, and her most recent poetry volume, Rigla de aer, was published in 2013. She was an editor for the Tomis, a culture magazine, as well as a university assistant for the journalism faculty at Constanta University. In 2013 she founded a poetic movement called ‘Mecanici Poetice’. She also organized an experimental poetry project called ‘Future Sound of Poetry’, which was held at the ‘Spring Poetry Festival’; it combined video poetry with electronic music.
Since its founding in 1992, Omi has hosted hundreds of authors and translators, representing more than fifty countries in the rural setting of Ghent. The colony’s strong international emphasis reflects the spirit of cultural exchange that is part of Ledig’s enduring legacy. Writers Omi welcomes published writers and translators of every type of literature. International, cultural and creative exchange is a foundation of our mission, and a wide distribution of national background is an important part of our selection process. Guests may select a residency of one week to two months, gathering at about ten at a time to liveand work in a rural setting overlooking the Catskill Mountains. The Visitors Program brings noted guests from the New York publishing community including editors, agents and book scouts who are invited to share dinner and conversation on both creative and practical subjects, offering insight into the workings of the publishing industry, and introductions to some of its key professionals.
Omi International Arts Center is a not-for-profit arts organization with residency programs for international visual artists, writers, translators, musicians and dancers. The 300 acre campus is also the site for The Fields Sculpture Park, a public exhibition space with nearly 80 contemporary sculptures; Architecture Omi, exploring the intersection of architecture, art and landscape; and Education Omi, an arts education programs for children.