The Alan Cheuse International Writers Center hosts established and emerging international writers for a semester-long residency at George Mason University. The visiting international writers serve three purposes.
First, they use their residency to work on creative writing projects—whether essay, fiction, poetry, drama or journalism. Second, they use their time to teach and educate, both informally and formally, the larger George Mason community. Fellows give a public presentation and reading of their work, guest teach, and are available for George Mason’s students and faculty through set office hours. Finally, each writer is exposed to the George Mason community and the broader Washington, DC metropolitan area. Writers can attend lectures on campus, PEN/Faulkner events in Washington, DC, or soak up the vibrant international culture of the nation’s capital.
The international writers’ semester-long residency works in coordination with sending George Mason’s MFA students abroad. As more MFA writers go out into the world and more international writers come to George Mason, we want these two strands of cultural exchange to reinforce and strengthen each other, building formal and informal partnerships with writers, universities, and writing organizations from across the globe.
January 19, 2016
