Kinsey Phipps, The Daily Iowan
From Iowa City to Italy to South America to Africa, 16 emerging female writers are on a six-month journey to kick-start their creative careers.
The Women’s Creative Mentorship Project is a collaboration between the University of Iowa International Writing Program and the State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs to provide a mentorship between established and emerging female writers.
The bureau contacted the IWP to develop the pilot project. Director Christopher Merrill and program-development coordinator Cate Dicharry were excited about the idea. They contacted eight alumnae of the IWP’s fall residency program to become mentors, Merrill said.
“We like to reach out to our alum[s] as much as possible through projects as they arrive,” Merrill said. “We are hoping to cultivate writing at all stations of creation. It’s a part of our effort to not only maintain contact with our alums but develop connections between the IWP and writers all over the world.”