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More than 40 Pulitzer Prize winners. Seven U.S. Poet Laureates. 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!

Upcoming Events

48-Hour Flash Writing Contest | Write Now

Friday, January 17 4:00pm to Sunday, January 19, 2025 4:00pm

Virtual

Mark your calendars for our UI Alumni and Friends Flash Writing Contest—a free, online short story competition for a variety of age groups. You don’t have be an Iowa Writers’ Workshop graduate or an accomplished author to join in the fun. The contest begins on Friday, Jan. 17, 2024, at 4 p.m. CST, and runs through Sunday, Jan. 19, 2024, at 4 p.m. CST. At the contest's start, we'll provide a genre, character, and specific object to incorporate into your story. The rest is up to you! Submissions...

Application Deadline: Spring 2025 Obermann Writing Collective

Friday, January 24, 2025 5:00pm

This program offers companionship and accountability to University of Iowa artists, scholars, and researchers working on any kind of academic writing project (ex. academic articles/essays, fellowship or grant applications, book projects, edited volumes, or nonfiction) who want dedicated time, a cozy space, and a community for the practice of writing. In Spring 2025, three write-on-site groups will meet in our Writers' Attic at the Obermann Center for Advanced Studies at 111 Church St. Each...

Write at the Stanley

Sunday, January 26, 2025 2:00pm to 4:15pm

Stanley Museum of Art

Write at the Stanley: A Generative Writing Workshop is back for the Spring Semester! Join us monthly to generate new creative writing inspired by works in the Stanley collection. Each session will be led by a different talented writer from our area, who will be offering a new prompt and a new approach to ekphrastic writing (writing inspired by visual art). Bring your own notebook and pencil or computer and leave with the beginning of a newly written piece. Co-sponsored by Iowa City Poetry...

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Latest Articles

5Q Interview: UI Press Author Erika Morillo

Wednesday, December 18, 2024

Sad Me of the Past // Episode 10: Ada Zhang

Wednesday, December 4, 2024

5Q Interview: Grace Westergaard, editor of Venus Magazine

Friday, November 22, 2024

5Q Interview: Solenn Vincent, editor of The Broken Clock Magazine

Friday, November 22, 2024

5Q Interview: Margo Keller, editor of Cave Writing Magazine

Monday, November 18, 2024

book cover with night sky and constellations

5Q Interview: UI Press Author Sharon Wahl

Wednesday, November 13, 2024

5Q Interview: UI Press Author Shelly Mazzanoble

Tuesday, November 12, 2024

5Q Interview: UI Press Author Marguerite Sheffer

Monday, November 11, 2024

Sad Me of the Past // Episode 9: Lila Byock

Friday, November 8, 2024

5Q Interview: IWP resident Han Junghyun

Wednesday, November 6, 2024

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News Highlights

UI Professor Travis Vogan's stunning book on the artist LeRoy Neiman reviewed in The Wall Street Journal

⮑ The Wall Street Journal

CAMILLE DUNGY NAMED 2024 PAUL ENGLE PRIZE WINNER

⮑ UNESCO City of Literature

‘Sad Me of the Past’ podcast connects Iowa writers to their younger selves

⮑ The Daily Iowan

Two Workshop alumni awarded National Medals in the Humanities: Joy Harjo and Juan Filipe Herrera

⮑ The White House

5Q Interview: Anna Davtyan Աննա Դավթյան, IWP Resident

⮑ International Writing Program

UI Professor Kaveh Akbar's Novel "Martyr!" on Obama's Summer Reading List

⮑ X.com

UI Translation Program Alum in the New York Times

⮑ The New York Times

Ethan Hawke joined Stephen Colbert on The Late Show & took a moment to celebrate the excellence of The Iowa Writers' Workshop, where Flannery O'Connor studied in the 1940s.

Two UI faculty members, Kaveh Akbar (English) and Jamel Brinkley (Iowa Writers' Workshop) received the prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship

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

More News

Share Your News!

Are you connected to the University of Iowa's writing programs and have news to share? We want to hear about it! If you have a book coming out, or are teaching a class, or doing a talk or lecture, or anything else -- we want to know and share in your success. Send us an update!