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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

International Lights Salon Series

Saturday, October 17, 2026 7:00pm to 8:30pm
PorchLight Literary Arts Center

Enjoy conversation, connection, and community over light snacks and wine. A collaboration with the International Writing Program, the International Lights Salon provides a space for visiting International writers, local artists, university students, and community members to engage in dialogue.Join us online or in person. For a zoom link email Jennifer at: jennifer@porchlightliterary.orgCamila Urioste is a Bolivian writer. With Diario de Alicia (2005) she became the first woman in Bolivia to win...

Iowa City Book Festival | Tree Tour: Literary Grove at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop promotional image

Iowa City Book Festival | Tree Tour: Literary Grove at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop

Monday, October 19, 2026 12:00pm
Dey House

Explore the Literary Grove with University of Iowa Arborist Andy Dahl
Take a guided stroll through the Literary Grove, where each tree has a story to tell. Arborist Andy Dahl will share the unique histories and literary connections of these remarkable trees, many linked to celebrated authors from the world-renowned Iowa Writers’ Workshop.

Playwrights Workshop Reading: Luggage Baby promotional image

Playwrights Workshop Reading: Luggage Baby

Monday, October 19, 2026 5:30pm
Theatre Building

By Darrin Terpstra

You came to America on a plane. Your mother likes to say the plane was her womb, and the landing was your birth.

Please be advised this play contains content about grief, racism, and conservative Christianity.

Part of Theatre Arts' Reading Series

Tickets:
Tickets for readings are free of charge; seating is limited.

All Events

International Lights Salon Series

Saturday, October 17, 2026 7:00pm to 8:30pm
PorchLight Literary Arts Center

Enjoy conversation, connection, and community over light snacks and wine. A collaboration with the International Writing Program, the International Lights Salon provides a space for visiting International writers, local artists, university students, and community members to engage in dialogue.Join us online or in person. For a zoom link email Jennifer at: jennifer@porchlightliterary.orgCamila Urioste is a Bolivian writer. With Diario de Alicia (2005) she became the first woman in Bolivia to win...

Iowa City Book Festival | Tree Tour: Literary Grove at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop promotional image

Iowa City Book Festival | Tree Tour: Literary Grove at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop

Monday, October 19, 2026 12:00pm
Dey House

Explore the Literary Grove with University of Iowa Arborist Andy Dahl
Take a guided stroll through the Literary Grove, where each tree has a story to tell. Arborist Andy Dahl will share the unique histories and literary connections of these remarkable trees, many linked to celebrated authors from the world-renowned Iowa Writers’ Workshop.

Playwrights Workshop Reading: Luggage Baby promotional image

Playwrights Workshop Reading: Luggage Baby

Monday, October 19, 2026 5:30pm
Theatre Building

By Darrin Terpstra

You came to America on a plane. Your mother likes to say the plane was her womb, and the landing was your birth.

Please be advised this play contains content about grief, racism, and conservative Christianity.

Part of Theatre Arts' Reading Series

Tickets:
Tickets for readings are free of charge; seating is limited.

Iowa City Book Festival & Geneva Lecture Series | Marilynne Robinson and Nicholas Kristof promotional image

Iowa City Book Festival & Geneva Lecture Series | Marilynne Robinson and Nicholas Kristof

Monday, October 19, 2026 7:00pm
Macbride Hall

The following is copied from https://www.iowacityofliterature.org/event/marilynne-robinson-and-nicholas-kristof/:

How Can We Hope When It All Feels Hopeless? An evening with Pulitzer Prize winners Nicholas Kristof and Marilynne Robinson

Marilynne Robinson is the author of the novels Housekeeping, Gilead, Home, Lila, and Jack. Gilead won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Critics Circle Award, while Home received the Orange Prize for Fiction and Lila won the National Book Critics...

Super-Powered Storytelling: On Writing Comics  promotional image

Super-Powered Storytelling: On Writing Comics

Tuesday, October 20, 2026 3:30pm
Adler Journalism and Mass Communication Building
Join Cinematic Arts and comic book writer Ben Percy to learn more about how crafting a comic book parallels storyboarding a film! Listen in as he discusses the practice and craft of comic book storytelling and how to direct a small "set" of collaborators.
Iowa City Book Festival | Mark Leidner - 'Elegy for Pangaea' promotional image

Iowa City Book Festival | Mark Leidner - 'Elegy for Pangaea'

Wednesday, October 21, 2026 7:00pm
Prairie Lights Books
Mark Leidner’s third poetry collection, 'Elegy for Pangaea', is as funny, strange, and epic as his two previous collections
What Makes a Great Story?: Panel Discussion with Franklin Leonard and Ben Percy | Moderated By Rachel Yoder and Dean Bakopoulos promotional image

What Makes a Great Story?: Panel Discussion with Franklin Leonard and Ben Percy | Moderated By Rachel Yoder and Dean Bakopoulos

Wednesday, October 21, 2026 7:30pm to 9:00pm
Voxman Music Building
What separates a good story from a truly unforgettable one? Join acclaimed novelist, screenwriter, and comics writer Benjamin Percy and Franklin Leonard, founder and CEO of The Black List, for a wide-ranging conversation about the craft, business, and cultural impact of storytelling.
Literary Legends Featuring Pulitzer Prize Winner Yiyun Li (00MS, 05MFA) promotional image

Literary Legends Featuring Pulitzer Prize Winner Yiyun Li (00MS, 05MFA)

Friday, October 23, 2026 7:30pm
The University of Iowa - The Levitt Center for University Advancement
2026 Literary Legends Featuring Pulitzer Prize winner Yiyun Li (00MS, 05MFA)

Iowa City Book Festival | Patricia Foster: 'A Marriage in Startled Air'

Saturday, October 24, 2026 11:30am
Prairie Lights Books
In 'A Marriage in Startled Air', Patricia Foster shares the story of how the diagnosis of her husband’s rare cancer changed the dynamics of their marriage and opened the door to the hidden world of his childhood

Iowa City Book Festival | Harriet Clark: 'The Hill'

Saturday, October 24, 2026 2:30pm
Prairie Lights Books
The Iowa City Book Festival presents: Harriet Clark, reading from her debut novel, 'The Hill'
Write at the Stanley: A Generative Writing Workshop promotional image

Write at the Stanley: A Generative Writing Workshop

Sunday, October 25, 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...

Helen Betya Rubinstein in conversation with Bennett Sims promotional image

Helen Betya Rubinstein in conversation with Bennett Sims

Wednesday, October 28, 2026 7:00pm to 8:00pm
Prairie Lights Books
Nonfiction Writing Program Alumna Helen Betya Rubinstein (MFA '15) reads from her latest book

Live from Prairie Lights | Joanna Klink - 'Days & Chances'

Thursday, October 29, 2026 7:00pm
Prairie Lights Books
Workshop alumna Joanna Klink will read from her new book, 'Days & Chances'

Live from Prairie Lights | Tom Drury - 'West of Loveland'

Wednesday, November 4, 2026 7:00pm
Prairie Lights Books
Workshop visiting faculty member, Tom Drury will read from his new book, 'West of Loveland'
Literary Agent Alia Hanna Habib promotional image

Literary Agent Alia Hanna Habib

Thursday, November 5, 2026 2:00pm to 3:00pm
Nonfiction Writing House

The Nonfiction Writing Program presents Alia Hanna Habib, vice president and literary agent at The Gernert Company, for a publishing talk.

At The Gernert Company, Habib represents MacArthur Fellows, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists, National Book Award finalists, and numerous New York Times bestselling authors. She was profiled by New York Magazine for their special issue on “The 49 Most Powerful New Yorkers (You’ve Never Heard Of).”

Her book, Take it From Me, a guide to nonfiction writing...

"The Novel in a Time of Textpocalypse": a lecture by Dan Sinykin promotional image

"The Novel in a Time of Textpocalypse": a lecture by Dan Sinykin

Thursday, November 5, 2026 4:00pm
English-Philosophy Building

Dan Sinykin is the author of American Literature and the Long Downturn: Neoliberal Apocalypse (Oxford 2020), Big Fiction: How Conglomeration Changed the Publishing Industry and American Literature (Columbia 2023), and, with Johanna Winant, Close Reading for the Twenty-First Century (Princeton 2025). He is working on a manuscript about the rise of, and alternatives to, Zionism in the Pale of Settlement. His talk will be titled "The Novel in a Time of Textpocalypse."

VIEWS Presents: Chanelle Benz Reading & Q&A

Thursday, November 5, 2026 7:00pm to 8:00pm
English-Philosophy Building
Art & Write Night promotional image

Art & Write Night

Friday, November 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...

Book Club at the Museum promotional image

Book Club at the Museum

Monday, November 9, 2026 7:00pm to 8:30pm
Old Capitol Museum

Students, join the book club that meets monthly inside the iconic Old Capitol Museum, with books 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 Fall 2026 semester, Book Club @ the Museum will meet on the following Mondays from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at Old Cap:

Sept. 14: We'll pick a book and make "junk journals" together.

Oct. 12: Bookmark...

Live from Prairie Lights | Suzanne McConnell - 'If You Think Your Heart Can Take It and Other Stories'

Wednesday, November 11, 2026 7:00pm
Prairie Lights Books
Suzanne McConnell will read from her newest book, 'If You Think Your Heart Can Take It and Other Stories'
Read on the Rug promotional image

Read on the Rug

Friday, November 13, 2026 10:30am to 11:00am
University of Iowa Museum of Natural History

Read on the Rug is back with monthly offerings but we're moving to FRIDAYS!

Join us on the second Friday of each month in Iowa Hall at the UI Museum of Natural History for Read on the Rug. Ideal for families or caregivers with kiddos aged 2-5, all are welcome to this free educational program. This program series was designed with our youngest museum lovers in mind. Come along as we build community and inspire a sense of wonder, curiosity, and respect for our natural and cultural worlds with...

Book Matters: Tisa Bryant and Sarah Minor promotional image

Book Matters: Tisa Bryant and Sarah Minor

Friday, November 13, 2026 7:00pm
Prairie Lights Books
Join Tisa Bryant, associate professor of English, and Sarah Minor, assistant professor of English, as they read from their latest books and discuss the themes that shape their work. This event is free and open to the public.

Live from Prairie Lights | Kate Gibbel & Alyssa Moore - 'Little Sound' & 'Come Again'

Tuesday, November 17, 2026 7:00pm
Prairie Lights Books
Kate Gibbel and Alyssa Moore will read from their new books, 'Little Sound' and 'Come Again'

Live from Prairie Lights | Julie Orringer - 'Luna, Phoenix, Queen'

Wednesday, November 18, 2026 7:00pm
Prairie Lights Books
Julie Orringer will read from her new book, 'Luna, Phoenix, Queen'

Punk in 50 Pieces

Thursday, November 19, 2026 4:00pm
English-Philosophy Building

Co-sponsored by the School of Journalism and Mass Communication and the Obermann Center.

Punk in 50 Pieces retells the story of punk’s cultural earthquake. Kevin Dettmar traces the evolution of this rock ‘n’ roll revolution, revealing how classic early punk (The Ramones, Patti Smith, Iggy Pop) gave birth to both post-punk (Joy Division, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Gang of Four) and New Wave (Talking Heads, Blondie, Devo).Standing beside classic works such as Please Kill Me, Lipstick Traces, Rip It...

Write at the Stanley: A Generative Writing Workshop promotional image

Write at the Stanley: A Generative Writing Workshop

Sunday, November 29, 2026 2:00pm to 3:45pm
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...

Stephanie Krzywonos in conversation with Melissa Febos promotional image

Stephanie Krzywonos in conversation with Melissa Febos

Wednesday, December 2, 2026 7:00pm to 8:00pm
Prairie Lights Books
Nonfiction Writing Program Alumna Stephanie Krzywonos (MFA '25) reads from her latest book
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...

Read on the Rug promotional image

Read on the Rug

Friday, December 11, 2026 10:30am to 11:00am
University of Iowa Museum of Natural History

Read on the Rug is back with monthly offerings but we're moving to FRIDAYS!

Join us on the second Friday of each month in Iowa Hall at the UI Museum of Natural History for Read on the Rug. Ideal for families or caregivers with kiddos aged 2-5, all are welcome to this free educational program. This program series was designed with our youngest museum lovers in mind. Come along as we build community and inspire a sense of wonder, curiosity, and respect for our natural and cultural worlds with...

Book Club at the Museum promotional image

Book Club at the Museum

Monday, December 14, 2026 7:00pm to 8:30pm
Old Capitol Museum

Students, join the book club that meets monthly inside the iconic Old Capitol Museum, with books 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 Fall 2026 semester, Book Club @ the Museum will meet on the following Mondays from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at Old Cap:

Sept. 14: We'll pick a book and make "junk journals" together.

Oct. 12: Bookmark...

Write at the Stanley: A Generative Writing Workshop promotional image

Write at the Stanley: A Generative Writing Workshop

Sunday, January 24, 2027 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...

VIEWS Presents: Garth Greenwell & Julia Conrad

Monday, February 15, 2027 7:00pm to 8:30pm
English-Philosophy Building
Write at the Stanley: A Generative Writing Workshop promotional image

Write at the Stanley: A Generative Writing Workshop

Sunday, February 28, 2027 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...

VIEWS Presents: Gabrielle Calvocoressi Reading & Q&A

Thursday, March 25, 2027 7:00pm to 8:00pm
English-Philosophy Building
Write at the Stanley: A Generative Writing Workshop promotional image

Write at the Stanley: A Generative Writing Workshop

Sunday, April 25, 2027 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...

Iowa New Play Festival promotional image

Iowa New Play Festival

Monday, May 3 to Friday, May 7, 2027 (all day)
Theatre Building
We are thrilled to present our annual Iowa New Play Festival in the Theatre Building, featuring full productions written by MFA playwrights. Plus, there are readings daily from new, full plays written by MFA and undergraduate playwrights.
Iowa New Play Festival promotional image

Iowa New Play Festival

Tuesday, May 4 to Friday, May 7, 2027 (all day)
Theatre Building
We are thrilled to present our annual Iowa New Play Festival in the Theatre Building, featuring full productions written by MFA playwrights. Plus, there are readings daily from new, full plays written by MFA and undergraduate playwrights.
Iowa New Play Festival promotional image

Iowa New Play Festival

Wednesday, May 5 to Friday, May 7, 2027 (all day)
Theatre Building
We are thrilled to present our annual Iowa New Play Festival in the Theatre Building, featuring full productions written by MFA playwrights. Plus, there are readings daily from new, full plays written by MFA and undergraduate playwrights.
Iowa New Play Festival promotional image

Iowa New Play Festival

Thursday, May 6 to Friday, May 7, 2027 (all day)
Theatre Building
We are thrilled to present our annual Iowa New Play Festival in the Theatre Building, featuring full productions written by MFA playwrights. Plus, there are readings daily from new, full plays written by MFA and undergraduate playwrights.
Iowa New Play Festival promotional image

Iowa New Play Festival

Friday, May 7, 2027 (all day)
Theatre Building
We are thrilled to present our annual Iowa New Play Festival in the Theatre Building, featuring full productions written by MFA playwrights. Plus, there are readings daily from new, full plays written by MFA and undergraduate playwrights.
Write at the Stanley: A Generative Writing Workshop promotional image

Write at the Stanley: A Generative Writing Workshop

Sunday, May 23, 2027 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...

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