The Iowa Summer Writing Festival opens June 16th this year, and local residents who are not signed up for festival courses can still take advantage of the writing expertise gathered for the fest!

The Eleventh Hour lectures, a series of discussions and presentations held throughout the festival for attendees, are open to the public. Podcasts of the lectures will be available through our website, with new ones added each Friday.

The presentations are held at 11 a.m. on weekdays from the opening of the festival through July 27, in Jessup Hall on the University of Iowa campus.

The talks are on a number of topics. For example, past talks have been "Getting to the Finish Line" by A. Naomi Jackson and panel discussions such as "Cecile Goding, John Lake, & Beau O’Reilly—Words to Music." Fridays feature faculty readings.

The festival courses are for small groups of adult writers of all ages from throughout the country who share, read, and discuss their work under the leadership of accomplished writer/educators. Learn more about the festival and find the full schedule of the Eleventh Hour presentations on their website.