PrairieLights: IWP Sunday Afternoon Reading Series

Join them for their annual IWP Sunday Afternoon Reading Series! This week’s event features IWP Residents Monique Malcher (Brazil), Wame M. Molefhe (Botswana), and Lien Ming-wei (Taiwan). They will be joined by Iowa Writers’ Workshop Poetry candidate, Aditya Menon.

Monique Malcher is a writer, journalist, and visual artist born in Santarém, in western Pará, Brazil. She holds a Master’s degree in Anthropology (UFPA) and an Interdisciplinary PhD in Human Sciences with a focus on gender studies (UFSC). She currently resides in São Paulo. Her first book, Flor de Gume (Moinhos Publishing), won the Jabuti Literature Prize in 2021 in the short story category. Malcher is the second woman from northern Brazil to win a Jabuti in the literature category. Flor de Gume was also published under the title Flor de Filo by Fondo de Cultura Económica in Mexico (2025). Her first novel, Degola (2025), was released by Companhia das Letras (1st edition) and is already in its second reprint.

Wame M. Molefhe is a Botswana-born writer based in Gaborone. She writes across fiction, film, and television. Her published works include two short story collections and a debut novel shortlisted for the Island Prize for a Debut Novel (2025). She is a Civitella Ranieri fellow (2016). She is the founder of AgaMotse, a Centre for the Arts.

Lien Ming-wei (fiction writer, nonfiction writer; Taiwan) is the author of one work of reportage and four novels. His writing primarily focuses on fiction and has earned him several literary awards. He has published books such as Tomato Avenue and Other Coming-of-Age Stories (番茄街游擊戰), Son of the Green Cicadidae (青蚨子), The Confession of Blueberry Nights (藍莓夜的告白), Duty Officers of the Mountain and Sea: A Record of Toucheng Professionals (山與海的職日生：頭城職人誌), and Gunner, Snatcher, Robber, and Provoker (槍強搶嗆).

Aditya Menon is from Kodaikanal, India. His work has appeared in Peripheries, Colorado Review, Dialogist and elsewhere.