Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Christopher Merrill

@clmerrill.bsky.social

810 followers 850 following 46 posts

Poet, writer, translator, and director of the International Writing Program. My views, not those of the University of Iowa.

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Christopher Merrill @clmerrill.bsky.social · Nov 27

Very grateful to have this book out in the world. Wish that Marvin Bell and I were still trading paras (short for paragraphs/prose poems) and that he were here...

1 1 31

Christopher Merrill @clmerrill.bsky.social · 4d

Agnes Chew from Singapore reading from an essay for @uiiwp.bsky.social at Prairie Lights Bookstore.

Christopher Merrill @clmerrill.bsky.social · 4d

Audrey Cerchiara from the Hudson Valley reading her poetry for @uiiwp.bsky.social at Prairie Lights Bookstore.

Christopher Merrill @clmerrill.bsky.social · 4d

Florencia del Campo from Argentina and Spain reading her poems for @uiiwp.bsky.social at Prairie Lights Bookstore.

Christopher Merrill @clmerrill.bsky.social · 18d

Tayi Tibble from Aoteatroa/New Zealand reading from a work in progress for @uiiwp.bsky.social at Prairie Lights Bookstore.

Christopher Merrill @clmerrill.bsky.social · 18d

Fion Tse from Hong Kong reading an excerpt from her translation of a novel by Lo Yu for @uiiwp.bsky.social at Prairie Lights Bookstore.

Christopher Merrill @clmerrill.bsky.social · 18d

Tomas Downey from Argentina reading a short story for @UIIWP at Prairie Lights Bookstore.

1 4

Christopher Merrill @clmerrill.bsky.social · Sep 7

Andra Schwarz from Germany reading her poems for @uiiwp.bsky.social at Prairie Lights Bookstore.

Christopher Merrill @clmerrill.bsky.social · Sep 7

Roy Horovitz from Israel reading an essay for @uiiwp.bsky.social at Prairie Lights Bookstore.

Christopher Merrill @clmerrill.bsky.social · Aug 31

Julia Musakovska from Ukraine reading her poems for @uiiwp.bsky.social at Prairie Lights Bookstore.

1 1

Christopher Merrill @clmerrill.bsky.social · Aug 31

Devanshi Khetrapal from India reading a short story for the @uiiwp.bsky.social at Prairie Lights Bookstore.

Christopher Merrill @clmerrill.bsky.social · Aug 31

Myle Yan Tay from Singapore reading from his new novel for @UIIWP at Prairie Lights Bookstore.

Christopher Merrill @clmerrill.bsky.social · Aug 14

www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
What have we become?

Trump Has a New Definition of Human Rights

State Department reports portray Germany as more oppressive than El Salvador.

www.theatlantic.com

2 4

Christopher Merrill @clmerrill.bsky.social · Aug 6

What a disaster: www.nytimes.com/2025/08/05/a...

Humanities Endowment Funds Trump’s Priorities After Ending Old Grants

www.nytimes.com

1 1

Christopher Merrill @clmerrill.bsky.social · Aug 5

www.nytimes.com/2025/08/03/o...

Opinion | What to Do When the President Acts Like a 5-Year-Old?

www.nytimes.com

Christopher Merrill @clmerrill.bsky.social · Aug 3

Look what just arrived in the mail!

Christopher Merrill @clmerrill.bsky.social · Jul 31

Delighted to read this conversation with Zhang Yueran (IWP 2016): granta.com/never-again-...

Never Again Crazy Like Wei Hui

‘Wei Hui would have been the last person to acknowledge the story’s fictionality. She hoped readers would think of her protagonist as her.’

granta.com

Christopher Merrill @clmerrill.bsky.social · Jul 3

And here's what I wrote about it:

Christopher Merrill @clmerrill.bsky.social · Jul 3

Thrilled to have a copy of my old friend Gail Wronsky's dazzling new book:

1 1

Christopher Merrill @clmerrill.bsky.social · Jun 22

What can I say?

Reposted by Christopher Merrill

Words Without Borders & WWB Campus @wwborders.bsky.social · Jun 15

Today, we want to share a few essential pieces exploring the impact of federal cuts to arts programs and aid programs. First, @clmerrill.bsky.social‬'s accepted speech from the 2025 Ottaway Award for the Promotion of International Literature: wordswithoutborders.org/read/article... (1)

“Except in Error”: On the Decline of Cultural Diplomacy - Words Without Borders

On June 3, Christopher Merrill accepted the 2025 Ottaway Award for the Promotion of International Literature at a ceremony in New York City.

wordswithoutborders.org

1 3 3

Reposted by Christopher Merrill

Words Without Borders & WWB Campus @wwborders.bsky.social · Jun 10

Today on WWB: read 2025 Ottaway Awardee and IWP director @clmerrill.bsky.social‬ 's remarks from our June 3rd ceremony, which call for us to see these cuts—to USAID and to IWP—as inextricably linked (2).
wordswithoutborders.org/read/article...

The quote “The news of our termination arrived on the same day that Elon Musk and his DOGE henchmen canceled 5,200 USAID contracts and fired or placed on administrative leave most of that agency’s employees, dismantling a relatively inexpensive means of combating global health challenges, from dispensing HIV/AIDS medications and mosquito nets to providing support to communities affected by natural disasters.”

The quote “These cuts to spending on American humanitarian programs, which will likely cause the deaths of millions of children over the next five years and which have already cost the lives of 300,000 children, according to a recent estimate, prompted Bill Gates to remark that ‘the world’s richest man has been involved in the deaths of the world’s poorest children.’ Who knew that America First could be so lethal? Musk has left the capital, but the damage remains.”

The quote “The gifts of time, space, and camaraderie the IWP has offered to more than 1,600 distinguished poets and writers from 160 countries, including three future Nobel laureates, are as nothing compared to the lifesaving measures and support for democratic processes, sustainable economic development, and protection of the environment that USAID has provided to communities around the world. But the connections forged by the IWP between writers, translators, editors, literary agents, and readers have made a difference in the lives of countless individuals.”

The quote “‘Only connect,’ E. M. Forster’s advice for young novelists, has been my mantra during my tenure at the IWP, which began with rebuilding a storied institution that had fallen apart in the aftermath of the Cold War, included leading the charge for Iowa City to become the third UNESCO City of Literature in 2008, and produced a number of vital literary projects and programs, all of which ended on February 26 when the State Department terminated grants totaling nearly a million dollars.”

2 4

Christopher Merrill @clmerrill.bsky.social · Jun 11

Grateful to @wwborders.bsky.social for publishing my remarks upon receiving the Ottaway Award for the Promotion of International Literature.

Words Without Borders & WWB Campus @wwborders.bsky.social · Jun 10

Over the course of a single day, the Trump administration canceled thousands of USAID grants and terminated funding for the @uiiwp.bsky.social‬ at the University of Iowa. (1)

1 4

Reposted by Christopher Merrill

Words Without Borders & WWB Campus @wwborders.bsky.social · Jun 9

On June 3rd, we presented @clmerrill.bsky.social‬ with the 2025 Ottaway Award. On WWB, you can read Tom Sleigh’s laudation, which was read by Alane Salierno Mason. Stay tuned for Merrill’s own remarks tomorrow! wordswithoutborders.org/read/article...

A photo of Alane Salierno Mason delivering a laudation on Tom Sleigh’s behalf with the text “2025 Ottaway Award: Poet Tom Sleigh offers an encomium for Christopher Merrill, the winner of the 2025 Ottaway Award for the Promotion of International Literature. Alane Salierno Mason delivered Sleigh’s encomium at the ceremony on June 3.”

The text “2025 Ottaway Award” and the quote “Chris and I have traveled together many times, and there’s always a moment like this one, a moment of such unlikelihood that, for all the strange things Chris has seen, you know he’s never seen anything quite like this. That’s when he shifts from being the consummate cultural diplomat to the acute observer of his poetry and prose. And because he’s seen more of the world than anyone I’ve ever known, he achieves what Czesław Miłosz once called ‘the general human perspective,’ in which the narrow affiliations of blood and country fall away precisely because the details of his impressions are so beautifully embodied on the page.”

1 4

Christopher Merrill @clmerrill.bsky.social · May 10

Delighted to have this new book by the great Romanian poet Ana Blandiana, in the elegant translations of Paul Scott Derrick & Viorica Patea. @uiiwp.bsky.social

Reposted by Christopher Merrill

Words Without Borders & WWB Campus @wwborders.bsky.social · May 6

Join us virtually for the 2025 Ottaway Award ceremony on 6/3, with a laudation by Alane Salierno Mason and remarks from Ottaway winner @clmerrill.bsky.social ! You can also catch a recording on our YouTube channel after. Learn more and RSVP: buff.ly/v5bKFCT

1 3