Previous Writer to Writer Mentees

AWP celebrates the writers who have participated as mentees in past sessions of Writer to Writer.

Session		Mentor
Fall 2023	Susan Baek	Ursula Pike
	Nicole Bird	Gustavo Adolfo Aybar
	Max Boenish	Joanne Nelson
	Saida Bulhan	Amelia Brunskill
	Beth Curran	Claire Wahmanholm
	Lori D'Angelo	Cara Diaconoff
	Victoria Martinez Diaz	Diana Lopez
	Alison Fromme	Helen Thorpe
	Andrew Garvin	Allison Whittenberg
	Audrey Hosford	Erin Riha
	Scott Hoshida	Amy Gottlieb
	Kiani Laigo	Tara Campbell
	Kamie Maddocks	Miranda Joy
	J.M. O'Malley	Aimee Ogden
	Fatma Omar	Kimberly L. Becker
	Carolina Pfister	Jill Talbot
	Brooke Randel	Mark Pleiss
	Ellen White Rook	Janée J. Baugher
	Sara Rosenberg	Doug Sutton-Ramspeck
	Jessie Rothwell	Ceilidh Michelle
	Leslie Stonebraker	Estelle Erasmus
	Chelsea Tokuno-Lynk	Sara Rauch
	Elizabeth Tomanio	Sean Singer
Spring 2023	Emma Akpan	Keenan Norris
	Sarah Renee Beach	Sarah Renee Beach
	Margaret Besser	Paul Pedroza
	Genevieve DeGuzman	Karen Rigby
	Yibing Du	Neil Aitken
	Timothy Furgal	J. Kates
	Jeffrey Heid	Evan Morgan Williams
	Shannon St. Hilaire	Maryka Biaggio
	Hernan Jourdan	Bronson Lemer
	Sadia Kalam	Kristen Witucki
	Pamela Manasco	Patricia Clark
	Lea Page	Sophia Kouidou-Giles
	Robin Pickering	Lara Lillibridge
	Jessica Ram	Tony Keith Jr.
	Willard Ramsey	Derek Otsuji
	Don J. Rath	Jessica Payne
	Sunny Rosen	Jennifer Steil
	Marisa Russello	Sarah Fawn Montgomery
	Janice Lobo Sapigao	Moazzam Sheikh
	Nandini Sikand	Sayantani Dasgupta
	Emma Sunog	Yvonne Ventresca
	Kathryn Temple	Athena Kildegaard
	Rebekah Wolman	Jehanne Dubrow
	Caitlyn Zawideh	Anika Fajardo
Fall 2022	Katie Bennett	Gina Nutt
	Hayley Boyd	Anne Leigh Parrish
	Bethany Chez	Patricia Clark
	F.M Deemyad	Anika Scott
	Melanie Farmer	Lara Lillibridge
	Elizabeth Galoozis	Claire Wahmanholm
	Sascha Goluboff	Joann Smith
	Chideraa Ike-Akaenyi	Lucy Ferriss
	Becky Band Jain	Jeannine Ouellette
	Genevieve Leone	Doug Ramspeck
	Mack Marsden	Rachel Beanland
	Caitlin McKenna	Helen Thorpe
	Erin Jin Mei O’Malley	David Eye
	Mae Oetjens	Nina Renata Aron
	Beth Brown Peterson	Maryka Biaggio
	a. adenike phillips	Tony R. Keith Jr.
	Hannah Rumsey	Joanna Rokoff
	Jacqueline Schaalje	Michael Meyerhofer
	Brooke Segarra	Daniel Olivas
	Daniela Paraguya Sow	Gustavo Adolfo Aybar
	Danielle Tran	Leland Cheuk
	Brian Watson	Garrard Conley
	Alice White	Matthew Thorburn
Spring 2022	Dawn Angelicca Barcelona	Shikha Malaviya
	Candice C. Cusic	Allison Whittenberg
	Andrea Deeken	Alexa Doran
	Reed Kuehn	Mark Pleiss
	Katey Linskey	J. Kates
	Briana Maley	Kristen Witucki
	Chibuike Ogbonnaya	Rochelle Spencer
	Weijia Pan	Neil Aitken
	Alison Heron Hruby	Amorak Huey
	Heather Stivison	Dawn Raffel
	Lauren Tanabe	Emily Maloney
	Shze-Hui Tjoa	Lily Hoang

Session		Mentor
Fall 2021	Megan Pinto	Neil Aitken
	Amy Alvarez	Claire Wahmanholm
	Jennifer Poteet	Matthew Thorburn
	Sharon Browning	Sean Singer
	Nina Murray	Alexa Doran
	JC Williams	Jehanne Dubrow
	Simona Carini	Jim Kates
	Christopher Vaughan	Doug Sutton-Ramspeck
	Samar Al Summary	David Eye
	Lacey Dunham	Dawn Raffel
	J.P. Der Boghossian	Lara Lillibridge
	Rachel Howard	Jen Breach
	Lorinda Toledo	Daniel Olivas
	Jess Guinivan	Joann Smith
	Laysha Ostrow	Lucy Ferriss
	Laura Joyce Davis	Anne Leigh Parrish
	Sarah Schiff	Kristen Witucki
	Sal Ragen	Mark Pleiss
	Katheryn Gallant	Maryka Biaggio
	Chital Mehta	Rochelle Spencer

Session	Mentee		Mentor
Spring 2021		Claudia Armann	Diana López
		Jamir Bowers	Danielle Rollins
		Ebony E. Chinn	Michael Meyerhofer
		Angela Dribben	Suzanne Farrell Smith
		Becky Ferrigno	Meg Eden
		Katherine Gaffney	Alexa Doran
		Kari Ann Gonzalez	Jen Breach
		Ava Homa	Ellen Meeropol
	Sawsen Jamaleddin	Yvette Benavides
		Christine Landry	Maryka Biaggio
		Nicole W. Lee	Neil Aitken
		Puloma Mukherjee	Lex Williford
		Tamara Nicholl-Smith	Emily Michael
		Ryley O'Byrne	Lara Lillibridge.
		Shokoofeh Rajabzadeh	Faiqa Mansab
		Neha Sharma	Shikha Malaviya
		Jen Straus	Kristen Witucki
		Mandy Wallace	Despy Boutris
		Camille Wanliss	Rachel Beanland
		Nancy H. Williard	Rus Bradburd
		Julia Winn	Donna Freitas
		Robin Yang	Cara Diaconoff
		Ariel Yisrael	J. Kates

Session		Mentor
Fall 2020	Madeleine Barowsky	Daniel Allen Cox
	Despy Boutris	Claire Wahmanholm
	Erin Butler	Kristen Witucki
	Amanda Churchill	Anika Scott
	Jase DeGray	Jen Breach
	Katherine Lim	Maryka Biaggio
	Supriya Lopez Pillai	Soniah Kamal
	Kimberly Mack	Lily Hoang
	Patricia Martin	Ellen Meeropol
	Dara Mathis	Lara Lillibridge
	Emma Mercier	Richard Terrill
	Lisa Mottolo	Julie Hanson
	Steve Neiheisel	Mark Pleiss
	Nicole Schroeder	Emily Maloney
	Yichen (Lily) Shi	Bill Beverly
	Rachael Souza	Eileen Cronin
	Vimla Sriram	Sayantani Dasgupta
	Amy Sugeno	Kathryn Aalto
	Susan Tatiner	J. Kates
	Sunita Theiss	Shikha Malaviya
	Natalie Tomlin	Dawn Raffel
	Yezmin Villarreal	Allison Whittenberg
	Jason Whitesitt	William Woods
	Lauren D. Woods	Richard Terrill
	Haolun Xu	Neil Aitken
	Victor Wei Ke Yang	Mark Jude Poirier

Session		Mentor
Spring 2020	Denise Rosario Adusei	Janet Wong
	Camille Baumann-Jaeger	Diana López
	Tony Dallacheisa	Benjamin Ludwig
	Monique Danye	Nancy Johnson
	Angela Dribben	Amorak Huey
	Auden Eagerton	Elizabeth Deanna Morris Lakes
	Katherine Fallon	Michael Meyerhofer
	Emma Ferguson	Jasmine V. Bailey
	Geoffrey Giller	Mark Jude Poirier
	Jasmine Griffin	Maisy Card
	Viggy Parr Hampton	Tyler Dilts
	Michaeljulius Y. Idani	Rita Woods
	Laura Jenkins	Emily Maloney
	Ellen Kazimer	Lisa C. Taylor
	Linda E. Keyes	Nan Cuba
	Nicole Kuruszko	Jennifer Steil
	Hadley Leggett	Amanda Niehaus
	McKenzie Long	Kathryn Aalto
	Wynter K. Miller	R.L. Maizes
	Bertha Munuku	Lex Williford
	Emi Nietfeld	Donna Freitas
	Melissa Nigro	John Elizabeth Stintzi
	Chris Norton	Paul Pedroza
	Rachael Philipps-Shapiro	Richard Terrill
	Gretchen Potter	David Heska Wanbli Weiden
	Amy Sugeno	Leslie Schwartz
	Laura Paul Watson	Callista Buchen
	Holly M. Wendt	Lucy Ferriss
	Tori Weston	Lily Hoang
	Ann Wilberton	Lara Lillibridge

Session		Mentor
Fall 2019	Diana Babineau	Shikha Malaviya
	Erin Bach	Michelle Menting
	Nathaniel Blaesing	Phil Klay
	Judy Bolton-Fasman	Jessica Handler
	Rachel Borup	Alison Hammer
	Cori Bratby-Rudd	Marlena Chertock
	Luisa Caycedo-Kimura	Dean Rader
	Eileen Cronin	James Tate Hill
	Angèle Devant	Chinelo Okparanta
	Kianna Eberle	Erica Trabold
	Lynne Ellis	M.A. Vizsolyi
	Jenny Sue Gamboa	Kate Ristau
	Ivy Ge	Jennifer Steil
	Lucy Griffith	Athena Kildegaard
	Shahnaz Habib	Kisha Schlegel
	Amy Widmoyer Hanson	Chris Cander
	Trish Hopkinson	Sandy Coomer
	Anna K. Jacobson	Janée Baugher
	Kimberly Kaye	Emily Maloney
	Cybele Garcia Kohel	Atar Hadari
	Alex Sujong Laughlin	Marie Myung-Ok Lee
	Minyoung Lee	Soniah Kamal
	Amy Lerman	Michael Meyerhofer
	Masha Lisak	David Eye
	Sakae Manning	Jenny Lee Ferguson
	Maureen McGuirk	Matt Bell
	Brian Michael Murphy	Dawn Raffel
	Johnny Neill	Pat Willard
	Lynn Pattison	J. Kates
	Rachael Philipps-Shapiro	Sarah Carson
	A. Poythress	Rose Andersen
	Casey Reiland	Rachel Swearingen
	Kimberly Ross	Kim Chinquee
	Tonesha Russell	Joshunda Sanders
	Daniel Fergus Tamulonis	Mark Jude Poirier
	Leah Tieger	Allison Davis
	Michael Todd	Lara Lillibridge

Session		Mentor
Spring 2019	Talea Anderson	Sandra Gail Lambert
	Nicole Barden	Allen Braden
	Evana Bodiker	Athena Kildegaard
	William Ward Butler	Richard Terrill
	Gillian Esquivia-Cohen	Natalia Treviño
	Michael Freed-Thall	Lex Williford
	Annelyse Gelman	Michael Meyerhofer
	Stephanie George	Danielle Hanson
	Amy Huang	Jenny Sadre-Orafai
	Patrycja Humienik	Jehanne Dubrow
	Emily Alice Katz	Amy Gottlieb
	Abbie Kiefer	Christina Olson
	Burcu Koray	Emily Fridlund
	Brandi Lee Metzger	Joe Milazzo
	Amalia Melis	Xu Xi
	Liz Paley	Benjamin Ludwig
	Mary Pan	Emily Maloney
	Emma Pattee	Pamela Erens
	Ken Post	Evan Morgan Williams
	Tammie Rice	Alex Lemon
	Whitney Rio-Ross	Jay Sheets
	Rashi Rohatgi	Faiqa Mansab
	Angela M. Sanchez	Fran Wilde
	Rowan Sharp	Anne Sanow
	Phylise Smith	Kristi Maxwell
	Donna Tallent	Suzanne Farrell Smith
	Laurie Thomas	Renee Simms
	Faerl Marie Torres	Tif Marcelo
	Jesse Weiner	Phoebe Kitanidis

Session		Mentor
Fall 2018	Helen Armstrong	Sarah Leamy
	Amy Blakemore	Keena Roberts
	Lauren K. Carlson	Allen Braden
	Regina Chiuminatto	Jason Gray
	Sarah Dalton	Alex Lemon
	Lauren Dostal	Steph Post
	Elyse Durham	Zeke Jarvis
	Ann Feldman	David Rocklin
	Tahirah Alexander Green	Sassafras Lowrey
	China Hill-LoBue	Mira T. Lee
	Romana Iorga	Erin Hoover
	Jarika Johnson	Tom Stern
	Olivia Katrandjian	Jennifer Steil
	Laura Laing	Erica Trabold
	Christine Madsen	Hilary Zaid
	Mel McCuin	Geffrey Davis
	Ainsley McWha	Chris Dombrowski
	Nelle Mills	Jessica Wilbanks
	Brenda Joyce Patterson	Callista Buchen
	Natalia Reyes	Norma Cantú
	Clare Sanders	Allegra Hyde
	Joyce Schmid	J. Kates
	Laura Steadham Smith	Chris Cander
	Monica Villavicencio	Lilliam Rivera
	Jennifer Wholey	Chris Tonelli
	Annette Wong	Neil Aitken

Session		Mentor
Spring 2018	Allison Albino	Neil Aitken
	Ona Anosike	Stephanie Powell Watts
	Noah Bogdonoff	David Ebershoff
	Arun Chittur	Anjali Enjeti
	Dayna Cobarrubias	Shanthi Sekaran
	Christina Consolino	Anne Valente
	Molia Dumbleton	Pamela Erens
	Ruth Ebenstein	Amy Gottlieb
	Lupita Eyde-Tucker	Maggie Smith
	Emily Goff	Jenny Yang Cropp
	Kirin Khan	Laura Ellen Joyce
	Gabriela Halas	Ken Waldman
	B.C. Krygowski	Benjamin Ludwig
	Megan Lahman	Natalie Giarratano
	Sarah Leamy	Alex DiFrancesco
	Aurora Masum-Javed	Callista Buchen
	David L. Mintzer	Joseph Schuster
	Kelsey Myers	Sandra Gail Lambert
	Kelley Nebosky	Keith Kopka
	Amy Nastase	Claire Messud
	Alex Niemi	Kristi Maxwell
	Jennifer O’Grady	Barbara Lindsay
	Adeeba Rana	Sandy Spencer Coomer
	Saba Sebhatu	Kao Kalia Yang
	Rese Schille	Grant Souders
	Sheree Shatsky	Doug Sutton-Ramspeck
	Kira Sutherland	Tyler Dilts
	Carolyne Van Der Meer	Caroline Bock
	Kendra Vanderlip	Jill Talbot
	Mariette Williams	Elizabeth Isadora Gold

Session		Mentor
Fall 2017	Chelsea Catherine	Sassafras Lowrey
	Aaron Caycedo-Kimura	Matthew Thorburn
	Lydia Cooper	Lucy Ferriss
	Suzie Eckl	David Rocklin
	Jena Favinger	Honorée Fanonne Jeffers
	Kate Gaskin	Christina Olson
	Lucas Jacob	J. Kates
	Rachel Kurasz	Laura Creedle
	Autumn McClintock	Adam Clay
	Andrew Miller	Kathryn Aalto
	Mentee	Tasha Cotter
	Tiffany Palumbo	Roxane Gay
	Preeti Parikh	Shikha Malaviya
	Alixen Pham	Paul Pedroza
	Zora Mai Quỳnh	Spencer Wise
	Melanie Redler	Benjamin Ludwig
	Nettie Reynolds	Jean Klein
	Camila Santos	Reyna Grande
	Amy Savage	Allegra Hyde
	Moe Shalabi	Neil Connelly
	Annie Syed	Gail Hosking
	Lisa Whalen	Gail Folkins
	Elizabeth Zertuche	Jenny Ferguson

Session		Mentor
Spring 2017	Annette C. Boehm	Sidney Wade
	Alice Christy	Sandy Coomer
	Yesenia Diaz	Jaquira Díaz
	Judith Gelt	Jill Talbot
	Margaret Grant	Virginia Pye
	Emily Huso	Chauna Craig
	Katarzyna Jakubiak	Soniah Kamal
	Deborah Jang	Kimberly L. Becker
	Kristine Jepsen	Jeannine Ouellette
	Laura Joyce	Xu Xi
	Rebecca Tyng Kantor	Elizabeth L. Silver
	Rachel Luria	Margaret Lazarus Dean
	Cynthia Marie	Jenny Ferguson
	Michelle Cerulli McAdams	Margaret Malone
	Ellen Birkett Morris	Masha Hamilton
	Benedict Nguyen	Dan Calhoun
	Ann Plicque	Doug Ramspeck
	Diana Powell	Laura Valeri
	Erin Robertson	JD Schraffenberger
	Shelley Senai	Zeke Jarvis
	Annah Sidigu	Brendan Walsh
	Leeanna T. Torres	Chelsea Biondolillo
	Rashaad Thomas	Danez Smith
	Michael Allyn Wells	Ken Waldman
	Seema Yasmin	Jehanne Dubrow

Session		Mentor
Fall 2016	Amna Ahmad	Chaitali Sen
	Adwoa Akhu	Julia Boyd
	J. Sebastian Alberdi	Michael Broder
	Rebecca Baroma	Jeannine Ouellette
	Laura Braverman	Hélène Cardona
	Stephanie Burnham	Rachel Howzell Hall
	Thatcher Carter	Sharon Millar
	Penny Gilchrist	Tracy DeBrincat
	Senna Heyatawin	Marilyn McCabe
	Tiffany Kassab	Lisa Nikolidakis
	Benin Lemus	Christine Hyung-Oak Lee
	Jon Levenson	Dan Calhoun
	Lara Lewis	Zach Powers
	Caroline Plasket	Leslie Harrison
	Barbara Ristine	Jodi Paloni
	Muhammad Umar	Shikha Malaviya
	Renee Simms	Amina Gautier
	LP Sutton	Katie Rose Guest Pryal
	Shubha Venugopal	Lori Ostlund
	Nancy Geibe Wasson	Joe Milazzo
	Mika Yamamoto	Kelly Luce

Session		Mentor
Spring 2016	Rachel Ansong	Barbara Helfgott Hyett
	Ann DeVilbiss	Emilia Phillips
	Shelley Evans	Eliot Treichel
	Mari Hailu	dawn lonsinger
	Irene Hoge Smith	Claude Clayton Smith
	Cynthia Huijgens	Najiyah Maxfield
	Catherine Keefe	Traci Brimhall
	Meg Kinghorn	Brandi Granett
	Ananda Lima	Fred Arroyo
	Colette Lunday	Benjamin Ludwig
	R.L. Maizes	Jon Papernick
	Mariah Mottley	Sharon Estill Taylor
	Amanda Niehaus	Alice Sebold
	Lara Palmquist	Katharine Beutner
	Robin Patten	Gail Folkins
	Erin Elkins Radcliffe	Allen Braden
	Stephanie Ratanas	Jeannine Ouellette
	Manisha Sharma	Shikha Malaviya
	Naomi Ulsted	Ken Waldman

Session		Mentor
Fall 2015	Cairo Amani	Jennifer Morales
	Ashanti Anderson	Verónica Reyes
	Alan Bell	J.E. Robinson
	Elisa Bernick	Leslie Schwartz
	Elizabeth Cone	Chauna Craig
	Rachel Custer	Kerrin McCadden
	T.K. Dalton	Eileen Cronin
	Kelly Jo Eldredge	Dale Griffiths Stamos
	Sharon Ferguson	Susan Wingate
	Ryane Granados	Robert Hellenga
	Nicole Homer	Jenny Sadre-Orafai
	P.D. Keenen	Minal Hajratwala
	Karin Killian	Jessica Treadway
	Weyshawn Douglas Koons	Earl Swift
	Jessica Lawrence	Seth Tucker
	Mira T. Lee	Brando Skyhorse
	Melani Martinez	Norma Cantú
	Journey McAndrews	Michael Broder
	Alyssa McClure	Rachel Howzell Hall
	Hadley Moore	Christine Sneed
	Pedro Poitevin	Lori Desrosiers
	Aaron Samuels	Edwin Torres
	Sea Stachura	Kristiana Kahakauwila
	Silvana Straw	Michael Steinberg
	Genevieve Williams	Molly Sutton-Kiefer

Session		Mentor
Spring 2015	Sara-Kate Astrove "My mentor was an absolute dream come true! She was encouraging, inspirational, and helpful every step of the way. Through her insightful feedback, I was able to develop my manuscript and take it in a new direction. We also became great friends in the process, which was especially beneficial when tackling the personal material in my memoir."	Deb Olin Unferth
	Andrew Bourelle "It's been great to have such a talented writer to talk to about craft and publishing."	Evan Morgan Williams
	Jennifer Bullis "I truly value the relationship my mentor and I developed through our sustained conversation about writing, at both macro and micro levels."	Allen Braden
	Monika Cassel "As we worked together, my mentor also emphasized that she saw the relationship as more equal than the mentor/mentee labels might imply."	Rachel Mennies
	Alisha Churbe "My mentor was enthusiastic about my work and suggested readings, techniques, and advice that I'll never forget."	Paul Pedroza
	Catherine Cryan	Jennifer Perrine
	Judy Hall “Writing is hard, but figuring out what to do with your writing once you've written it seems like the hardest part of all. I am always looking for help in figuring out where to send my shorter work and how to find the right home for my novel and memoir-in-progress.”	Jeffrey Stayton
	Mary Harpin "I am looking forward to having an ongoing friendship with my mentor, mutually cheering one another on and continuing to progress."	Robin Scofield
	Sophia Kouidou-Giles "W2W was a rewarding experience that was encouraging and content-filled."	Renee D’Aoust
	Lisa Henner "I would describe the match with my mentor as alchemical. I was amazed and delighted that my mentor and I had so much in common as writers and readers."	Mike Harvkey
	Khara House "It was like discovering my inner voice in the form of another person."	Lisa C. Taylor
	Billy Kilgore "The Writer to Writer program is a gift. It enriched my writing life and provided much needed direction."	Brian Oliu
	Julia Laxer "Stay open to possibility while honoring your intuition and process. And don't be afraid to break the rules. Never be afraid to break the rules. Experiment."	Elline Lipkin
	Minadora Macheret "The Writer to Writer program gave me more than a mentor; it gave me a friend for life and the support to be fearless in my writing."	Lisha Garcia
	Freesia McKee "I recommend this program, whether an MFA is in your future or you’ve decided that you do not need one."	Michael Klein
	Caryn Mohr "Memoir is such a vulnerable endeavor, and there were a few times during the course of the program when fear or self-doubt got the better of me. My mentor encouraged me to continue on the track I was on, writing where I was pulled, trusting in my right and ability to tell my story."	Candy Schulman
	Lisa L. Moore "The program has given me a role model for how to continue to live a life in poetry—my mentor is about twenty years older than me and it was great to talk to her about how her career has changed and evolved."	Laurel Blossom
	Shauna Osborn “We have similarities in the ways we work—multiple creative interests and devising large, hybrid projects that cover the gamut of creative work. Finding another person who gets that process and the connections necessary to complete this sort of multifaceted work is rare.”	Allison Hedge Coke
	Molly Rideout "Fully recognize the real gift that your mentor is giving you of their time and don’t squander it. Be as giving in return as you can."	Luke Rolfes
	Whitney Curry Wimbish "I have never learned so much from one person in such a condensed period of time."	Lori Ostlund

Session		Mentor
Fall 2014	Kenzie Allen "I think the biggest benefit of this program is the relationship it fosters."	Ernestine Hayes
	Mona Alvarado Frazier "Get ready to push yourself, expand your writing skills, dig deeper, and go further. "	Fred Arroyo
	Kendra Atkins-Boyce "I decided what I wanted and worked with my mentor to be sure I got what I needed."	Chauna Craig
	Priscilla Cash	Jeff Hess
	Allison Coffelt "In the Writer to Writer mentorship program, I was reminded of the wider web of writers."	Jen Hirt
	Grace Jahng Lee "I look forward to continuing my relationship with my mentor and learning from her experiences as an accomplished author."	Renee D’Aoust
	Olga Livshin "I Ioved the experience and the energies I feel it's bringing to my work."	Janet Sylvester
	Taylor Lauren Ross "Know that your mentor can learn from you, too."	Brandi Granett
	Jennifer Savran Kelly "[I]f I am willing to go even deeper into the work and remain open to the process, my writing will go further than I imagined it could."	Amy Wallen
	Kira Taylor "I learned more profoundly the power of inspiration."	Lori Desrosiers