In 1997, Irish fiction writer Martin Roper accompanied a friend to the Cedar Rapids Airport, where, by chance, he struck up a conversation with a UI administrator; by the end of the conversation, Roper had agreed to found and direct a creative writing study-abroad program in Ireland for the University of Iowa. The program that he founded, the University of Iowa's Irish Writing Program, celebrates its 10th year this year, with Roper still at the helm.

On January 17, 2007, Martin Roper and Writing University website editor Kelly Smith recorded an audio interview (below), in which Roper shares, among other things, the story of the Irish Writing Program's founding, his secret for knowing when a particular workshop is going well, and what makes Ireland such a special place for writers.

Click here to listen to the entire interview (44 minutes)

For a quick preview of the interview, you might enjoy this 7 minute excerpt -- Roper describes how the format of the Irish Writing Program's writing workshops has been tailored to address some of the flaws he perceives in the way workshops are traditionally conducted.