Writers’ Workshop graduate Afabwaje Kurian will read from her debut novel, Before the Mango Ripens. She will be joined in conversation by Claire Lombardo. “Before the Mango Ripens is a historical novel that avoids predictable oppositions. Its characters’ relationships and internal qualities are complex, its locals speak in indigenous Gbagyi, and its focus is realistic throughout. It depicts an array of individual viewpoints, desires, and motivations, spotlighting the challenges of political self...

Writers' Workshop alum m.s. RedCherries will read from her stunning, multimorphic work of poetry and prose about Indigenous identity, mother. “This is an extraordinary debut by an innovative new voice in Native American literature. Throughout mother, m.s. RedCherries weaves a multigenerational and polyphonic narrative that spirals across time and space to explore themes of indigenous identity, adoption, residential schools, and reservations. While there is a profound sense of loss and trauma in...

On Baldwin: Celebrating a Great American Writer (Night #2) Hosted by Tisa Bryant Hancher Auditorium / Stanley Café Presented by Hancher Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024, 5 p.m. Part of Hancher's Infinite Dream festival This year marks the 100th anniversary of James Baldwin, who was born on Aug. 2, 1924. His achievements as an American writer and critic of our cultural condition remain incredibly poignant in these early decades of the 21st century. Across two distinct reading events, local and...

Iowa Writers’ Workshop alum Jennifer Banks will read from her fascinating and thought-provoking book Natality: Toward a Philosophy of Birth. She will be joined in conversation by IWP Director Christopher Merrill. This special event has been co-sponsored by the University of Iowa Department of History, the International Writing Program, Digital Studio, and the Office of the Vice President for Research, and a grant from AHI. "Banks’s insights are nothing short of revelatory. Using Arendt’s...

On Baldwin: Celebrating a Great American Writer (Night #1) Hosted by Donika Kelly Hancher Auditorium / Stanley Café Presented by Hancher Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024, 5 p.m. Part of Hancher's Infinite Dream festival This year marks the 100th anniversary of James Baldwin, who was born on Aug. 2, 1924. His achievements as an American writer and critic of our cultural condition remain incredibly poignant in these early decades of the 21st century. Across two distinct reading events, local and...

Join us for a panel discussion at the Stanley Museum of Art, and Online via Zoom, that explores how and why we write for the public as art critics, historians, journalists, editors, and nonfiction writers. Moderator Derek (DK) Nnuro | Author and Curator of Special Projects, Stanley Museum of Art Panel Hrag Vartanian | Editor-in-Chief, Hyperallergic Stephanie Wong | Editor and Co- Founder of Pasts Imperfect Jennifer Banks | Senior Executive Editor, Yale University Press The event will...

Write at the Stanley: A Generative Writing Workshop is back for the Fall 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. Teen...

Location: Porchlight 1019 E Washington St, Iowa City, IA 52240, USA Led by Nicole Vanderlinden What happens to your short story once you’ve submitted it to literary journals? Who reads your piece, and what happens next? Although each venue runs things a little differently, almost all have a first-pass read, which is where most stories end their journeys. In this weekend-long workshop, you’ll learn strategies for breaking through that screening read to move on to the next level (and, hopefully...

Iowa City poet Susan Aizenberg will read from A Walk With Frank O’Hara: Poems, published by the University of New Mexico Press Mary Burritt Christiansen Poetry Series, edited by Hilda Raz. "Susan Aizenberg is a poet with a wonderfully distinct voice — the poems in A Walk With Frank O'Hara have that difficult-to-achieve illusion of effortlessness I deeply admire, with no fussiness or straining for effect, but rather a clean elegance that allows Aizenberg's natural lyricism to shine. Aizenberg is...

Location: Porchlight 1019 E Washington St, Iowa City, IA 52240, USA Led by Nicole Vanderlinden What happens to your short story once you’ve submitted it to literary journals? Who reads your piece, and what happens next? Although each venue runs things a little differently, almost all have a first-pass read, which is where most stories end their journeys. In this weekend-long workshop, you’ll learn strategies for breaking through that screening read to move on to the next level (and, hopefully...

UI Nonfiction Writing Program alum Tatiana Schlote-Bonne will read from her debut novel, Such Lovely Skin, at Prairie Lights Books on Thursday, Sept. 19 at 7 p.m. Her reading will be followed by a conversation with NWP alum Jessie Kraemer.

Join us for a reading with award-winning author of Bliss Montage and Severance, Ling Ma.

Academy Award-nominated scriptwriter and Emmy winner Nicholas Meyer will read from his new book, Sherlock Holmes and the Telegram from Hell. "For decades, Nicholas Meyer has held sway as the preeminent author of Sherlockian tales, and Sherlock Holmes and the Telegram from Hell demonstrates his strengths in profusion: crisp plotting, rich cultural-political background, many flashes of wit, and an abiding zest for the game." —Alex Ross Nicholas Meyer is the "editor" of several Watson manuscripts...

Maryann Lesert will read from her impassioned story of anti-fracking activism (Kirkus), Land Marks. "Land Marks is an important and powerful novel, and deserves its place in a growing literature of ecological resistance. Read it, and then act.” —Derrick Jensen Inspired by two years that Mary Ann Lesert spent doing boots-on-well-sites research, Land Marks honors the real-life environmental activism of citizens who fought against fracking in Michigan's state forests. Water well drillers, doctors...

Join us for a reading and discussion, co-sponsored by Prairie Lights, to celebrate recent works from Louisa Hall and Bennett Sims, faculty in the University of Iowa Department of English. After the reading, Donika Kelly, associate professor of English, will join Hall and Sims for a conversation and Q&A with the audience. Light refreshments will follow.

Poets Hannah Bonner and Dan Wriggins will read from their debut poetry collections.  Hannah Bonner will read from Another Woman, published by Eastover Press. Poet Carlie Hoffman writes, "A book of eros and 'wild risk,' Hannah Bonner's spellbinding debut, Another Woman, conjures 'a water so febrile it is almost fire.' In the aftermath of the end of a love affair, Bonner's speaker wonders tenderly about 'every startled animal' and what it means to be a woman in the world when carnality gives way...

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...

Godshot author Chelsea Bieker will read from her new literary suspense Madwoman. She will be joined in conversation by Rachel Yoder. “Madwoman is brilliant. The rare kind of book that lives in your bones, as riveting as it is intimate. This is emotional suspense at its best, but it's also a chronicle of modern womanhood, an exploration of what mothers and daughters do to and for each other, and an ode to hope in the aftermath of trauma. Somehow, Bieker delivers all of this in a voice that is...

Iowa Writers’ Workshop graduate and author of The Travelers Regina Porter will read from her new novel, The Rich People Have Gone Away. She will be in conversation with Claire Lombardo. “Regina Porter weaves beauty and humor with pathos, in prose that is winding, prescient, and profound. She shows us worlds inside of worlds — of queerness, of love and relationships, of who we are and who we’re told to be — crafting a narrative that is both precise and thunderous. The Rich People Have Gone Away m...

Writers Workshop graduate Ruthvika Rao will read from her debut novel, The Fertile Earth. "The Fertile Earth is the kind of novel that you find yourself wanting a friend to read alongside you, to share in the beauty, tragedy, triumph and heartbreak of the world brought to life within its pages. Ruthvika Rao has crafted an astonishing, intelligent epic set during the early decades of post-independence India, a story filled with moral complexity, intertwined fates, awakenings and romance. Reading...

Writers’ Workshop alum Bret Anthony Johnston will read from his new novel, We Burn Daylight. "Symphonic and suspenseful, We Burn Daylight reimagines events at the Branch Davidian compound in Waco. In an epic act of empathy, Bret Anthony Johnston inhabits every point of view, from doomed devotees to perplexed law enforcement, and even manages to infuse the tragedy with moments of poignant, very human, humor." --Geraldine Brooks Bret Anthony Johnston is the author of the internationally...

Please join us for a special early release event to celebrate Garth Greenwell’s new novel, Small Rain. He will be joined in conversation by Jamel Brinkley. Greenwell’s eagerly anticipated book has received praise from authors including Miranda July, “I just didn’t put it down”; and Phil Klay, who calls it “a marvel.” Colm Tóibín says, “Small Rain is a marvelous novel: exceptionally vivid, real, and true. Garth Greenwell’s sensibility is rich and generous — the narrator's memories are haunting...

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...

Mark your calendar for our 100-Word Microstory Contest — a free online writing competition for a variety of age groups. You don’t have to be an Iowa Writers’ Workshop grad — or even have participated in a flash writing contest before — to join in the fun. Just create a story in 100 words or less that uses one of two specific writing prompts. We will announce the writing prompts here on Monday, July 15, 2024, at 9 a.m. CDT.

Mark your calendar for our 100-Word Microstory Contest — a free online writing competition for a variety of age groups. You don’t have to be an Iowa Writers’ Workshop grad — or even have participated in a flash writing contest before — to join in the fun. Just create a story in 100 words or less that uses one of two specific writing prompts. We will announce the writing prompts here on Monday, July 15, 2024, at 9 a.m. CDT.