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Writing-related events take place nearly every day of the year in Iowa City. Use this page to stay up to date on upcoming author readings, book signings, lectures, Q&As, and other unique opportunities scheduled around town. 

Upcoming

Jennifer duBois: Reading promotional image

Jennifer duBois: Reading

Thursday, February 12, 2026 8:00pm to 9:00pm
Dey House

Jennifer duBois is the author of The Last Language. Her first novel, A Partial History of Lost Causes, was a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel and winner of the California Book Award for First Work of Fiction. Soon after its publication, duBois received a Whiting Award and a National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 Award. Her second novel, Cartwheel, was a finalist for the New York Public Library’s Young Lions Fiction Award and the winner of the Housatonic Book Award. And her third...

Story Lab Workshop #1

Friday, February 13, 2026 12:00pm to 3:00pm
Pappajohn Business Building
Pick ONE workshop, leave with skills, stories, and smiles.
Krause Essay Prize Ceremony promotional image

Krause Essay Prize Ceremony

Friday, February 13, 2026 7:30pm to 9:00pm
Old Capitol Museum
Krause Essay Prize Winner Sarah Aziza will be honored by the Nonfiction Writing Program with a ceremony and reception

All Events

Jennifer duBois: Reading promotional image

Jennifer duBois: Reading

Thursday, February 12, 2026 8:00pm to 9:00pm
Dey House

Jennifer duBois is the author of The Last Language. Her first novel, A Partial History of Lost Causes, was a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel and winner of the California Book Award for First Work of Fiction. Soon after its publication, duBois received a Whiting Award and a National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 Award. Her second novel, Cartwheel, was a finalist for the New York Public Library’s Young Lions Fiction Award and the winner of the Housatonic Book Award. And her third...

Story Lab Workshop #1

Friday, February 13, 2026 12:00pm to 3:00pm
Pappajohn Business Building
Pick ONE workshop, leave with skills, stories, and smiles.
Krause Essay Prize Ceremony promotional image

Krause Essay Prize Ceremony

Friday, February 13, 2026 7:30pm to 9:00pm
Old Capitol Museum
Krause Essay Prize Winner Sarah Aziza will be honored by the Nonfiction Writing Program with a ceremony and reception
Jack Saebyok Jung and James F. Thomas: Reading promotional image

Jack Saebyok Jung and James F. Thomas: Reading

Friday, February 13, 2026 8:00pm to 9:00pm
Dey House

Jack Saebyok Jung is a poet, translator, and educator whose creative practice navigates the intersections of literature, technology, and identity. Known for his translations of Korean poetry, notably the cutting-edge works of Yi Sang, Jack explores how language moves between cultures, capturing nuance and existential depth through rhythmical precision.

Jung once planned on drawing vampire hunters and mech pilots — but then he stumbled into poetry and never left. A Truman Capote Fellow at the Iowa...

Matthew Helm: “The Televisual Proscenium: Staging the Archive in Harvey Firestein’s Torch Song Trilogy” promotional image

Matthew Helm: “The Televisual Proscenium: Staging the Archive in Harvey Firestein’s Torch Song Trilogy”

Monday, February 16, 2026 1:00pm to 2:00pm
English-Philosophy Building

Please join us for a job talk by Dr. Matthew Helm on Harvey Fierstein’s play Torch Song Trilogy (1982) and what it tells us about a disavowed queer history embedded within the medium of television. This presentation is an excerpt from a work-in-progress book, Transmediations: Media Materialism in the Archives of Queer Literature.

Views presents: Hai-Dang Phan Reading and Q&A promotional image

Views presents: Hai-Dang Phan Reading and Q&A

Wednesday, February 18, 2026 7:00pm to 8:00pm
English-Philosophy Building

Poet, translator, and essayist Hai-Dang Phan is the author of the poetry collection Reenactments (Sarabande, 2019) and the translator of Phan Nhiên Hạo’s selected volume of poems, Paper Bells (The Song Cave, 2020). Phan has taught at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and is currently an Associate Professor of English at Grinnell College.

Live from Prairie Lights | Jake Fournier- 'Punishment Bag'  promotional image

Live from Prairie Lights | Jake Fournier- 'Punishment Bag'

Wednesday, February 18, 2026 7:00pm
Prairie Lights Books

Jake Fournier will read from his new poetry collection, Punishment Bag. Described as "In conversation with collections like John Ashbery's Some Trees and Wallace Stevens's Harmonium," Punishment Bag is "a daring poetry debut that carves its own unsettling territory" (simonandschuster.com). D. A. Powell, author of Low Hanging Fruit, praises Punishment Bag as "a book marvelously held together by the attempt to see what can often only be felt," while Cody-Rose Clevidence, author of Aux/Arc Trypt...

Translating Dreams: A Reading and Conversation with Young Korean Wordsmiths promotional image

Translating Dreams: A Reading and Conversation with Young Korean Wordsmiths

Thursday, February 19, 2026 5:30pm to 6:45pm
Phillips Hall
Join the University of Iowa (UI) Center for Asian and Pacific Studies, an International Programs affinity group, and the UI Korean Program for a special event featuring three Korean authors presenting about their works and their thoughts on Korean literature.
V. V. Ganeshananthan: Reading promotional image

V. V. Ganeshananthan: Reading

Thursday, February 19, 2026 8:00pm to 9:00pm
Dey House

V. V. Ganeshananthan (she/her) is the author of the novels Brotherless Night (winner of the 2024 Women's Prize for Fiction and the 2024 Carol Shields Prize, a New York Times Editors’ Choice, and an NPR Book of the Year) and Love Marriage (longlisted for the Women's Prize and named one of the best books of the year by The Washington Post). Her work has appeared in Granta, The New York Times, and The Best American Nonrequired Reading, among other publications.

A former vice president of the South...

NWP Alumnus Jonathan Gleason reads from Field Guide to Falling Ill promotional image

NWP Alumnus Jonathan Gleason reads from Field Guide to Falling Ill

Friday, February 20, 2026 7:00pm
Prairie Lights Books
Nonfiction Writing Program reading at Prairie Lights
Write at the Stanley: A Generative Writing Workshop promotional image

Write at the Stanley: A Generative Writing Workshop

Sunday, February 22, 2026 2:30pm to 4:15pm
Stanley Museum of Art

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 and adult writers in all genres are welcome.

Write at the Stanley meets every fourth...

Book Reading by Clare Kinberg promotional image

Book Reading by Clare Kinberg

Monday, February 23, 2026 7:00pm to 8:30pm
Prairie Lights Books

Join the University of Iowa (UI) Jewish Studies Network, an International Programs affinity group, for a special event with author Clare Kinberg. Kinberg will read from her novel, By the Waters of Paradise: An American Story of Racism and Rupture in a Jewish Family, and share reflections on uncovering long-hidden truths within her family’s history.

Clare Kinberg is a white Jewish woman whose wife and daughters are descendants of the African diaspora. When she discovered her estranged Aunt Rose’s...

Book Reading by Keiichiro Hirano promotional image

Book Reading by Keiichiro Hirano

Tuesday, February 24, 2026 7:00pm to 8:30pm
Prairie Lights Books
Join the University of Iowa (UI) Center for Asian and Pacific Studies, an International Programs affinity group, for a special event with acclaimed Japanese author Keiichiro Hirano.

Library Workshop: Reading Scientific Articles

Thursday, February 26, 2026 3:30pm to 4:30pm
Sciences Library

Learning to efficiently read and understand scientific literature can be a time-consuming process. In this workshop, improve your understanding of scientific literature in both your field and others. Presented by Laurie Neuerburg, sciences head engagement librarian at the Sciences Library. 

This workshop will be presented virtually and in-person

Book Matters: Ashley Howard in conversation with Louise Seamster promotional image

Book Matters: Ashley Howard in conversation with Louise Seamster

Thursday, February 26, 2026 5:30pm to 7:00pm
Stanley Museum of Art
Join us for a reading a reading and discussion to celebrate Ashley Howard, assistant professor of history and African American studies, and her new book, Midwest Unrest: 1960s Urban Rebellions and the Black Freedom Movement.
The William Anthony Conservation Lecture Series presents Anne Hillam promotional image

The William Anthony Conservation Lecture Series presents Anne Hillam

Thursday, February 26, 2026 6:00pm to 7:30pm
Virtual
The William Anthony Conservation Lecture Series invites book and paper conservators and bookbinders to share their experience and work with the UI book arts community and beyond.
Reading by Jenny Boully, NWP Bedell Distinguished Visiting Professor promotional image

Reading by Jenny Boully, NWP Bedell Distinguished Visiting Professor

Friday, February 27, 2026 7:00pm
Nonfiction Writing House

Jenny Boully, Nonfiction Writing Program Bedell Distinguished Visting Professor, will read from her latest book, Betwixt and Between (Coffeehouse Press). Jenny Boully, a poet and essayist, is a 2020 Guggenheim Fellow in General Nonfiction.

About Betwixt and Between
Essays on writing, moving among digression, reflection, imagination, and experience as a lover might, bringing art into the world.

Boully’s essays are ripe with romance and sensual pleasures, drawing connections between the digression...

Book Club at the Museum promotional image

Book Club at the Museum

Monday, March 2, 2026 7:00pm to 8:00pm
Old Capitol Museum

Students, join the book club that meets monthly inside the iconic Old Capitol Museum, with books of all genres, chosen by you. Come read, wonder, and connect as we transform this timeless building into a cozy retreat for shared stories and spirited discussion in the Pentacrest Museums first ever student book club.

For the Spring 2026 semester, Book Club @ the Museum will meet on the following Mondays from 7 to 8 p.m. at Old Cap:

Feb. 2 (Please note: for February's book club meeting, we'll get to...

Neuroscience Interdisciplinary Graduate Program Guest Speaker: Dr. Stephani Sutherland, PhD promotional image

Neuroscience Interdisciplinary Graduate Program Guest Speaker: Dr. Stephani Sutherland, PhD

Tuesday, March 3, 2026 4:00pm
General Hospital

The Neuroscience Graduate Program is pleased to welcome Stephani Sutherland, PhD, a neuroscientist and science communication professional, for a guest seminar focused on careers in science communication.

Dr. Sutherland will begin with an overview of career paths in science communication, drawing on her own wide-ranging professional journey. Trained as a neuroscientist, she has built a multifaceted career as a science communicator, writer, journalist, and educator, translating complex research for...

Art & Write Night promotional image

Art & Write Night

Friday, March 6, 2026 6:00pm to 8:00pm
University of Iowa Museum of Natural History

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 and...

Many Keys, One Conversation: Schizophrenia, Neuroscience and Creativity

Wednesday, March 11, 2026 5:30pm to 8:30pm
The James Theater

This event brings together storytelling, dance, science, and dialogue to destigmatize schizophrenia and mental illness. Through personal narratives, artistic expression, cutting-edge research, and expert insight, attendees will discover the power of vulnerability, resilience, and community support in mental health. When we share our stories, we heal together

5:30 - 6:00 PM | Reception with Hors d'oeuvres & Poster Session
6:00 - 6:15 PM | Michael Judge: A Brother's Perspective
6:15 - 6:45 PM |...

Sterling HolyWhiteMountain: Reading & Q&A

Thursday, March 12, 2026 8:00pm to 9:00pm
Dey House

Sterling HolyWhiteMountain grew up on the Blackfeet Reservation. He holds a BA in English creative writing from the University of Montana and an MFA in fiction from the University of Iowa. He was a James C. McCreight Fiction Fellow at the University of Wisconsin and a Stegner fellow at Stanford University. His work has appeared in volumes 1 and 2 of Off the Path: An Anthology of 21st Century American Indian and Indigenous Writers, Montana Quarterly, ESPN.com., The Yellow Medicine Review and The...

Application Deadline: Obermann End-of-Year Writing Retreat promotional image

Application Deadline: Obermann End-of-Year Writing Retreat

Friday, March 13, 2026 5:00pm
North Ridge Pavilion
Space, time, & collegial support for academic writing
Write at the Stanley: A Generative Writing Workshop promotional image

Write at the Stanley: A Generative Writing Workshop

Sunday, March 22, 2026 2:30pm to 4:15pm
Stanley Museum of Art

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 and adult writers in all genres are welcome.

Write at the Stanley meets every fourth...

One Day for Iowa | The University of Iowa's Annual Giving Day promotional image

One Day for Iowa | The University of Iowa's Annual Giving Day

Wednesday, March 25, 2026 (all day)
Virtual

One Day for Iowa returns on Wednesday, March 25, marking 10 years of Hawkeyes coming together to support what matters most at the University of Iowa.

Our 24-hour online giving day is a chance for alumni, students, faculty, staff, and friends to make an impact—supporting scholarships, research, health care, the arts, student experiences, and more. With special matching and unlocking opportunities throughout the day, every gift has the power to go further.

Celebrate a decade of generosity. Be part...

Eric Vázquez: “En una olla de presión: Ernesto Bautista, Containerization, and the Mobile Poetries of Migration” promotional image

Eric Vázquez: “En una olla de presión: Ernesto Bautista, Containerization, and the Mobile Poetries of Migration”

Thursday, March 26, 2026 3:00pm to 4:00pm
English-Philosophy Building

Eric Vázquez is an assistant professor in American studies and Latino studies at University of Iowa. His scholarship emphasizes the cultural, political, military, and economic bonds that link populations and institutions in the United States to Central America.

Erik Larson in conversation with Inara Verzemnieks - The Demon of Unrest promotional image

Erik Larson in conversation with Inara Verzemnieks - The Demon of Unrest

Thursday, March 26, 2026 7:00pm
The Englert

Prairie Lights and the Englert Theatre present Erik Larson, who will talk about his nonfiction thriller, The Demon of Unrest, in conversation with Nonfiction Writing Program Associate Professor Inara Verzemnieks.

This is a ticketed event. Please visit the Englert Theatre for box office information.

Kevin Brockmeier: Reading & Q&A

Thursday, March 26, 2026 8:00pm to 9:00pm
Dey House

In addition to his latest book, The Ghost Variations: One Hundred Stories, Kevin Brockmeier is the author of the novels The Illumination, The Brief History of the Dead, and The Truth About Celia; the story collections Things That Fall from the Sky and The View from the Seventh Layer; the children’s novels City of Names and Grooves: A Kind of Mystery; and a memoir of his seventh-grade year called A Few Seconds of Radiant Filmstrip. His work has been translated into eighteen languages. He has...

Reading by Elissa Washuta, author of White Magic promotional image

Reading by Elissa Washuta, author of White Magic

Friday, March 27, 2026 7:00pm
Nonfiction Writing House

The Nonfiction Writing Program presents a reading by Krause Visiting Writer Elissa Washuta.

Elissa Washuta is a member of the Cowlitz Indian Tribe and a nonfiction writer. Her essay collection, White Magic, was selected as a finalist for the PEN/Open Book Award, longlisted for the PEN/Jean Stein Award, and named among the best books of 2021 by TIME, the New York Public Library and NPR. She is the author of Starvation Mode and My Body is a Book of Rules, and with Theresa Warburton, she is the co...

Stop/Time Festival promotional image

Stop/Time Festival

Friday, April 3 to Saturday, April 4, 2026 (all day)
Hancher Auditorium
The confines of “singer-songwriter” are too limiting to hold this artist and his searching work.
Art & Write Night promotional image

Art & Write Night

Friday, April 3, 2026 6:00pm to 8:00pm
University of Iowa Museum of Natural History

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 and...

Stop/Time Festival promotional image

Stop/Time Festival

Saturday, April 4, 2026 (all day)
Hancher Auditorium
The confines of “singer-songwriter” are too limiting to hold this artist and his searching work.
Book Club at the Museum promotional image

Book Club at the Museum

Monday, April 6, 2026 7:00pm to 8:00pm
Old Capitol Museum

Students, join the book club that meets monthly inside the iconic Old Capitol Museum, with books of all genres, chosen by you. Come read, wonder, and connect as we transform this timeless building into a cozy retreat for shared stories and spirited discussion in the Pentacrest Museums first ever student book club.

For the Spring 2026 semester, Book Club @ the Museum will meet on the following Mondays from 7 to 8 p.m. at Old Cap:

Feb. 2 (Please note: for February's book club meeting, we'll get to...

Write at the Stanley: A Generative Writing Workshop promotional image

Write at the Stanley: A Generative Writing Workshop

Sunday, April 26, 2026 2:30pm to 4:15pm
Stanley Museum of Art

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 and adult writers in all genres are welcome.

Write at the Stanley meets every fourth...

Book Reading: Residual, by Tisa Bryant promotional image

Book Reading: Residual, by Tisa Bryant

Tuesday, April 28, 2026 7:00pm
Prairie Lights Books
Celebrate the book launch of Residual, by Tisa Bryant
Art & Write Night promotional image

Art & Write Night

Friday, May 1, 2026 6:00pm to 8:00pm
University of Iowa Museum of Natural History

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 and...

Book Club at the Museum promotional image

Book Club at the Museum

Monday, May 4, 2026 7:00pm to 8:00pm
Old Capitol Museum

Students, join the book club that meets monthly inside the iconic Old Capitol Museum, with books of all genres, chosen by you. Come read, wonder, and connect as we transform this timeless building into a cozy retreat for shared stories and spirited discussion in the Pentacrest Museums first ever student book club.

For the Spring 2026 semester, Book Club @ the Museum will meet on the following Mondays from 7 to 8 p.m. at Old Cap:

Feb. 2 (Please note: for February's book club meeting, we'll get to...

Write at the Stanley: A Generative Writing Workshop promotional image

Write at the Stanley: A Generative Writing Workshop

Sunday, May 24, 2026 2:30pm to 4:15pm
Stanley Museum of Art

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 and adult writers in all genres are welcome.

Write at the Stanley meets every fourth...

Art & Write Night promotional image

Art & Write Night

Friday, June 5, 2026 6:00pm to 8:00pm
University of Iowa Museum of Natural History

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 and...

Art & Write Night promotional image

Art & Write Night

Friday, August 7, 2026 6:00pm to 8:00pm
University of Iowa Museum of Natural History

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 and...

Art & Write Night promotional image

Art & Write Night

Friday, September 4, 2026 6:00pm to 8:00pm
University of Iowa Museum of Natural History

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 and...

Art & Write Night promotional image

Art & Write Night

Friday, October 2, 2026 6:00pm to 8:00pm
University of Iowa Museum of Natural History

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 and...

Art & Write Night promotional image

Art & Write Night

Friday, December 4, 2026 6:00pm to 8:00pm
University of Iowa Museum of Natural History

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 and...

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