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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 | Patricia Foster in conversation with Darius Stewart

Thursday, September 28, 2023 7:00pm

Prairie Lights Books

Patricia Foster will read from her new collection of essays, Written in the Sky: Lessons of a Southern Daughter. She will be joined in conversation by author Darius Stewart. In Written in the Sky, Patricia Foster presents a double portrait of place and family, a book of deeply personal essays that interrogate the legacy of racial tensions in the South, the constriction of caste and gender, and the ways race, class, and white privilege are entwined in her family story. After interviewing girls at...

IWP Panel Discussion Series: "Writing the Not-Self"

Friday, September 29, 2023 12:00pm to 1:00pm

Iowa City Public Library

Join 2023 Fall Residency writers for a panel conversation/presentation followed by Q&A.

International Writing Program: Shambaugh House Reading

Friday, September 29, 2023 5:00pm to 6:00pm

Shambaugh House

Join us in person at the Shambaugh House (430 N. Clinton St., Iowa City) or online via Facebook or Zoom for a reading by two IWP 2023 Fall Residency writers. For those who are present in person, light refreshments will be provided.

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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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Denis Johnson reading, The University of Iowa, 1991

The University of Iowa, 1991

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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 | Patricia Foster in conversation with Darius Stewart

IWP Panel Discussion Series: "Writing the Not-Self"

International Writing Program: Shambaugh House Reading

Recent News

5Q Interview: Christine Evans, UI Press Author

5Q Interview: WANG Zhanhei 王占黑, IWP Resident

5Q Interview: Aigerim Tazhi Айгерим Тажи, IWP Resident

Volume 53, Issue 1 of The Iowa Review is out now! In this issue: a new stepmom, Superman comics, a ship on fire and ballerinas in New York City

Workshop alum Yiyun Li, Jayne Anne Phillips and C Pam Zhang on the 'L.A. Times' list of "10 books to add to your reading list in September"

5Q Interview: Noelle Q. De Jesus, IWP Resident

The 5th issue of the Prison Writing Project from the Magid Center for Writing is now published & available to read online!

"Unheard Melodies," Iowa Writers' Workshop alum Shane McCrae interviewed in 'The New York Review'