Last week, Justin Torres, a 2010 graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, returned to Iowa City to read from his debut novel We the Animals. Before his reading at Prairie Lights, Torres appeared on the University of Iowa radio station KRUI's program The Lit Show to discuss the book and its path to print. The talk took place from 2-3 PM on September 21st. "The book is a meditation on a pronoun: we," writes Joe Fassler, host of The Lit Show. "Three brothers move as one through a rundown town in Upstate New York, their six arms throwing rocks, hurling open-palm slaps, pulling close in a fighting, biting embrace.

The Iowa City UNESCO City of Literature website features several new 'On the Fly' videos, including 'A Tribute to Christopher Merrill', in which Sally Mason (University of Iowa President), Derek Willard (Special Assistant to the President for Governmental Relations), and Josh Schamberger (President, Iowa City/Coralville Area CVB) discuss Christopher Merrill and the significance of Iowa City's recent designation as a UNESCO City of Literature. Additional videos feature Horacio Castellanos Moya, Eduardo Halfon, Mona Simpson, James Tate and more. Watch the videos here: On the Fly archives

The latest installment of the Live Discussion series featured poet Ilya Kaminsky, one of this fall’s Ida Cordelia Beam Distinguished Visiting Professors at the University of Iowa. Mr. Kaminsky participated in an on-line chat about his poetry, his humanitarian work, his career as a translator and editor, as well as other literary topics. The chat took place Sept. 19th from 10:30 – 11:30 a.m. (Central Time). Click here to read the Live Discussion