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More than 40 Pulitzer Prize winners. Seven U.S. Poets Laureate. Countless award-winning playwrights, screenwriters, journalists, translators, novelists and poets.

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The Writing University Podcast Network

At the Writing University, we're devoted to delivering the most enlightening, educational and entertaining podcasts from the University of Iowa's creative writing programs. We gather all our offerings together here for you to peruse and enjoy!

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Upcoming Events

Live from Prairie Lights | Jorrell Watkins & Romeo Oriogun

Wednesday, May 1, 2024 7:00pm

Prairie Lights Books

Writers' Workshop alumni Jorrell Watkins and Romeo Oriogun will read from their poetry. Jorrell Watkins will read from Play/House, published by Northwestern University Press. “The ideas of 'play' and 'house' are interwoven gradually in Jorrell Watkins’ debut collection, with the changing light stretching and bending the shadows of masculinity, familial intimacy, and societal violences. Through his intense play with the vernacular and syntax of blk English, Watkins defamiliarizes urban Southern...

Shane Book and Sarah Mathews: Reading

Thursday, May 2, 2024 8:00pm

Dey House

The Writers' Workshop presents visiting instructors Shane Book and Sarah Mathews. To subscribe to a weekly emailing list of Writers' Workshop events, please fill in the linked form or email iww@uiowa.edu with “Events Mailing List Subscribe” in the subject line.

Art & Write Night

Friday, May 3, 2024 6:00pm to 8:00pm

University of Iowa Museum of Natural History

Join the long, rich, historical tradition of artists creating in our spaces. Professional, aspiring, and amateur artists alike, make our museum your muse. The return of this popular program series welcomes guests into the Museum of Natural History's magical gallery spaces after-hours to work on sketching or writing projects with other campus and community artists. Tell a friend, grab a notebook, and join us on the first Friday of each month. We'll provide a new inspo prompt for each session...

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Rita Dove

Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Rita Dove received her MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop in 1977.

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BA in Screenwriting

Students are instructed on practical skills and knowledge needed to become successful members of the screenwriting industry!

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Featured Archive

Jo Ann Beard + Melissa Febos reading

Live from Prairie Lights, 03/26/2021

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"I do not in fact know what I would have done, or who I would have been as an adult if I hadn’t lived in and around Iowa City"

iowa writers workshop wreath of laurel for the writing university

- Jane Smiley, Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (1992)

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The Writing University

Start Your Story Here

Programs

Writers

Archives

The Writing University Podcast Network

Upcoming Events

Live from Prairie Lights | Jorrell Watkins & Romeo Oriogun

Shane Book and Sarah Mathews: Reading

Art & Write Night

Recent News

Congratulations to Workshop director Lan Samantha Chang & alumni, Michelle Huneven and Elizabeth McCracken, 2024 Literature Award winners!

Director of the English and Creative Writing Major Kaveh Akbar in the NYTimes

Not sure what book to dive into next? Here is a shortlist of titles released in 2023 by University of Iowa grads, including the latest winner of the National Book Award for Fiction

University of Iowa English Professor Ed Folsom receives an honorary doctorate from TU Dortmund

Translation Workshop celebrates 60 years and looks at what’s next

5Q Interview: Stephen J. Dinsmore, UI Press Author of 'Iowa's Changing Wildlife'

Featured Archive: Daniyal Mueenuddin reading, Live from Prairie Lights, January 21, 2010

Writers' Workshop graduate Justin Torres wins the 2023 National Book Award for Fiction