Civitella Ranieri Fellows in Visual Arts and in Writing for 2011 and 2012 Civitella Ranieri Foundation has awarded sixty-four Fellowships to visual artists and writers from around the globe for the 2011 and 2012 seasons. These new Fellows are from over thirty nations in North and South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. The Civitella Ranieri Visual Arts Fellows are: Mo Abdulla (Iraq/Netherlands), Jyothi Basu (India), Riccardo Benassi (Italy), Manfredi Beninati (Italy), Sonya Clark (USA), Stefan Constantinescu (Romania/Sweden), Ivars Drulle (Latvia), Ettore Favini (Italy), Sakshi Gupta (India), Yael Kanarek (USA/Israel), Leif Kath (Denmark), Mohd Nor Khalid/LAT (Malaysia), Marta Kolendo (Poland/Germany), Jeesoo Lee (Korea/USA), Loredana Longo (Italy), Overton Loyd (USA), Ivan Malerba (Italy/UK), Zanele Muholi (South Africa), Valerio Rocco Orlando (Italy/USA), Sreshta Premnath (India/USA), Riccardo Enea Previdi (Italy/Germany), Jorge Queiroz (Portugal/Germany), Chris Raschka (USA), Mauro Restiffe (Brazil), Marc Rosenthal (USA), Pietro Ruffo (Italy), Mary Ntombikayise Sibande (South Africa), Francesco Simeti (Italy/USA), Sun Xun (China), Lan Tuazon (Philippines/USA), Matthias Weischer (Germany), and Ahmad Yazid (Malaysia). The Civitella Ranieri Writing Fellows are: Kim Addonizio (USA), Monica Arac de Nyeko (Uganda/Sweden), Rick Barot (USA), Ishmael Beah (Sierra Leone/USA), Charles Bock (USA), Alexander Chee (USA), Brian Chikwava (Zimbabwe/UK), Jose Y. Dalisay Jr (Philippines), Monica Ferrell (India/USA), Carolyn Forché (USA), Eliza Griswold (USA), Michiel Heyns (South Africa), Randa Jarrar (USA), Toni Kan (Nigeria), Sam Lipsyte (USA), Phillip Lopate (USA), Sabrina Mark (USA), Donna Masini (USA), Valzhyna Mort (Belarus/USA), Obi Nwakanma (Nigeria/USA), Sofi Oksanen (Finland/Estonia), Marko Pogačar (Croatia), David Rivard (USA), Mercedes Roffé (Argentina/USA), Matilde Sánchez (Argentina/Spain), Gjertrud Schnackenberg (USA), Samanta Schweblin (Argentina), Salvatore Scibona (USA), Miguel Syju co (Philippines/Canada), Hannah Tinti (USA), Uchechukwu Peter Umezurike (Nigeria), and John Wray (USA/Austria). The Civitella Ranieri Center is a workplace for gifted artists from different disciplines and countries, located in the 15th century Civitella Ranieri castle in the Umbria region of Italy. In keeping with the spirit of its founder, Ursula Corning, and the tradition of hospitality and support for the arts that she established at the castle, the Center seeks to enable its Fellows to pursue their work and to exchange ideas in this unique and inspiring setting. The Foundation strives to encourage the creative process by providing Fellows with agreeable board and lodging, a private work space and a generous period of uninterrupted time. The Foundation awards Fellowships biennially in a two-tiered process. A rotating group of diverse artists, academics, critics and others nominates potential candidates for the Fellowship. These candidates are then invited to submit an application along with representative work samples for review by an international jury of peers. The guiding principle of the nomination and selection process is to attract highly-qualified individuals who represent a full range of artistic backgrounds and practices. The process was designed to provide the Foundation access to the widest selection of artists in a variety of disciplines from all parts of the world. The Center is funded by the Civitella Ranieri Foundation, Inc., a non-profit corporation with offices in New York City.