From Away

From Away is an annual festival of new work celebrating the many voices of international playwrights. Each year, the festival brings talented playwrights from around the world to Portland, where excerpts from their work are presented, in translation, by Portland Stage Affiliate Artists.

From Away is produced in collaboration with the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa, a unique residency program that brings together the writers of the world. Founded in 1967, the IWP was the first international writer’s residency at a university, and it remains unique in the world. The IWP brings established writers from around the world to the University of Iowa, where they become part of the lively literary community on campus. Over the years, more than a thousand poets, writers, and dramatists from more than 120 countries have completed residencies in the program. From Away takes place near the culmination of their three-month residency in the International Writing Program, and has become a favorite event for many of the writers.

The From Away festival features readings from the recent work of the writers, followed by an open forum discussion between the playwrights, Portland Stage artists and the audience. Through both performance and conversation, the festival brings together the words and opinions of writers from many disparate continents and walks of life. Former From Away writers have come from China, Lithuania, Bosnia, Cuba, Uganda, Russia, Singapore, Italy, Romania, Israel, the Philippines, Palestine, Georgia, India, Hungary, Ireland, Australia, Argentina, Uzbekistan, Poland, Macedonia, and Bolivia, among many others.

 November 2010 From Away Festival

Information on the 2010 From Away festival at Portland Stage will be posted to this site when it becomes available.
 

November 2009 From Away festival

The 2009 festival featured writers Vicente Garcia Groyon of The Philippines, Marius Ivaskevicius of Lithuania, and Salomat Vafo of Uzbekistan. The festival was presented on Monday, November 9 on the Portland Stage Mainstage, with an encore presentation on Tuesday, November 10 at Memorial Hall on the Bowdoin College campus.