IOWA CITY — After 58 years of collaborative diplomacy — cultivating global understanding and good will through story and imagination and creative work — the U.S. Department of State has notified the University of Iowa’s esteemed International Writing Program that it is terminating its grants because they “no longer effectuate agency priorities” or align with “national interest.”

That loss of nearly $1 million in federal funding is devastating for the program started in 1967 by Hualing Nieh Engle and husband Paul Engle, who directed the globally-acclaimed Iowa Writers’ Workshop for 24 years from 1941 to 1965.

“This award is being terminated for the convenience of the U.S. Government pursuant to a directive from U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, for alignment with agency priorities and national interest,” according to the Feb. 26 termination notice.

...https://www.thegazette.com/higher-education/state-department-ui-international-writing-program-no-longer-of-national-interest-terminates-1m/