Join us at 4:00 in the afternoon! IWP alum Fiona Sze-Lorrain will read from her new book of poems Rain in Plural, published by Princeton University Press.  She will be joined in conversation by IWP Director and poet, Christopher Merrill.

To join this virtual event, register here.

"Rain in Plural is a cause for celebration. In recent years, when the world has become too wearying for me, I’ve looked to the poetry of Fiona Sze-Lorrain for her inventive lyricism and her radiant intelligence. There is an exquisite music in this work that is unlike anything else in contemporary poetry. ..Rain in Plural is a collection of glorious and absolute brilliance." David St. John. Fiona Sze-Lorrain has also written the piece, "How Each Line Appears | some loose leaves" in Princeton University Press.

Fiona Sze-Lorrain is the author of three previous poetry collections, including The Ruined Elegance, which was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. She has translated more than a dozen books of contemporary Chinese, French, and American poetry and is an accomplished musician, considered a major zheng harpist of her generation.  She lives in Paris.

Christopher Merrill has published six collections of poetry, most recently Boat and Necessities; many edited volumes and translations; and six books of nonfiction, including Only the Nails Remain: Scenes from the Balkan Wars and Self-Portrait with Dogwood. As director of the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa since 2000, Merrill has conducted cultural diplomacy missions to more than fifty countries.