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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
Live from Prairie Lights | Angela Pelster - "The Evolution of Fire"
Angela Pelster - The Evolution of Fire
Angela Pelster will read from her new essay collection, The Evolution of Fire: Essays on Crisis and Becoming. Described by publisher Milkweed as "a luminous collection of essays about crisis, hope, and the decision to resist or embrace evolution—a book about time, for our time," The Evolution of Fire is praised by bestselling author Hanif Abdurraqib as "stunningly written—vivid in imagery, in the braiding together of language, and in the honoring of every person it shines a light on."
Angela Pelster is a multi-award-winning essayist recognized by PEN, the McKnight Foundation, Bread Loaf, and the Minnesota State Arts Board. Published in LitHub, Ploughshares, Granta, The Kenyon Review, and other outlets, she lives and works in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Live from Prairie Lights | Lisa Graves - "Without Precedent: How Chief Justice Roberts and His Accomplices Rewrote the Constitution and Dismantled Our Rights"
Lisa Graves is one of the nation’s foremost experts on the right-wing influence on the US Supreme Court and other levers of power. She leads True North Research and co-hosts Legal AF. She has served as a senior advisor in all three branches of the federal government, including as chief counsel for nominations for the Senate Judiciary Committee for Senator Patrick Leahy. She resides in Superior, Wisconsin.
Jeffrey Yang Reading
Join us for a reading by Jeffrey Yang:
Jeffrey Yang is the author of the poetry collections Line and Light; Hey, Marfa; Vanishing-Line; and An Aquarium. He is the translator of Bei Dao’s long poem, Sidetracks and autobiography, City Gate, Open Up; Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Liu Xiaobo’s June Fourth Elegies; Ahmatjan Osman’s Uyghurland, the Farthest Exile; Su Shi’s East Slope, and an anthology of classical Chinese poems, Rhythm 226. He is the editor of the poetry anthologies Birds, Beasts, and...
All Events
Live from Prairie Lights | Angela Pelster - "The Evolution of Fire"
Angela Pelster - The Evolution of Fire
Angela Pelster will read from her new essay collection, The Evolution of Fire: Essays on Crisis and Becoming. Described by publisher Milkweed as "a luminous collection of essays about crisis, hope, and the decision to resist or embrace evolution—a book about time, for our time," The Evolution of Fire is praised by bestselling author Hanif Abdurraqib as "stunningly written—vivid in imagery, in the braiding together of language, and in the honoring of every person it shines a light on."
Angela Pelster is a multi-award-winning essayist recognized by PEN, the McKnight Foundation, Bread Loaf, and the Minnesota State Arts Board. Published in LitHub, Ploughshares, Granta, The Kenyon Review, and other outlets, she lives and works in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Live from Prairie Lights | Lisa Graves - "Without Precedent: How Chief Justice Roberts and His Accomplices Rewrote the Constitution and Dismantled Our Rights"
Lisa Graves is one of the nation’s foremost experts on the right-wing influence on the US Supreme Court and other levers of power. She leads True North Research and co-hosts Legal AF. She has served as a senior advisor in all three branches of the federal government, including as chief counsel for nominations for the Senate Judiciary Committee for Senator Patrick Leahy. She resides in Superior, Wisconsin.
Jeffrey Yang Reading
Join us for a reading by Jeffrey Yang:
Jeffrey Yang is the author of the poetry collections Line and Light; Hey, Marfa; Vanishing-Line; and An Aquarium. He is the translator of Bei Dao’s long poem, Sidetracks and autobiography, City Gate, Open Up; Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Liu Xiaobo’s June Fourth Elegies; Ahmatjan Osman’s Uyghurland, the Farthest Exile; Su Shi’s East Slope, and an anthology of classical Chinese poems, Rhythm 226. He is the editor of the poetry anthologies Birds, Beasts, and...
Art & Write Night
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...
Live from Prairie Lights | Betsy Rubiner in conversation with Veronica Lorson Fowler - "Our Diaries, Ourselves"
Based in Chicago, Betsy Rubiner has decades of experience as an journalist based in the Midwest and on the East Coast, writing for newspapers and magazines, from The New York Times to The Guardian to The Des Moines Register; and writing for foundations and nonprofits including The Annie E. Casey Foundation (Baltimore) and The Aspen Institute (Washington D.C.). Her travel blog is TakeBetsyWithYou, and she's also the author of the travel book Fun with the Family in Iowa (Globe Pequot Press) (adapted from betsyrubiner.com).
Veronica Lorson Fowler is an Ames-based writer, non-profit communications director and former Des Moines Register reporter and Meredith editor. She is digitizing and preserving the early 20th century journal of her great-aunt, who lived near the Kansas family farm where Veronica grew up.
Anthology Reading Series
Mark your calendars! The interdepartmental Anthology reading series is returning with a fundraiser for Escucha Mi Voz. Come any time between noon and 6 p.m. on Sunday, May 3 to enjoy workshops, music, bags, baked goods, and readings from across the MFA programs. Tickets will be pay-what-you-can; all proceeds will go to Escucha Mi Voz. Readings from across lowa's creative writing MFA programs, including the lowa Writers' Workshop, Nonfiction Writing Program, Playwriting, MFA Translation, and...
Iowa New Play Festival
Tony and Leo
Directed by Søren Olsen
Part of Iowa New Play Festival – Reading Series
The Milk Miracle
Directed by Caroline S. Clay
Part of Iowa New Play Festival
Live from Prairie Lights | Kevin Mason in conversation with Charity Nebbe — "Retracing the Dragoon Trail in Iowa"
Book Club at the 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...
The Milk Miracle
Directed by Caroline S. Clay
Part of Iowa New Play Festival
Iowa New Play Festival
Rituals of Theophany
Directed by Vivian Bonde
Part of Iowa New Play Festival – Reading Series
The Year Between
Part of Iowa New Play Festival – Reading Series
Live from Prairie Lights | Anna Barker in conversation with DK Nnuro - "13 Notes from Napoleon, Iowa: Musings on the Edge of the French Empire"
Between 1800 and 1803 the future state of Iowa was ruled by Napoleon Bonaparte, then First Consul of the French Republic. 13 Notes from Napoleon, Iowa: Musings on the Edge of the French Empire illuminates some aspects of Iowa’s French past, such as cities named after the Napoleonic battles of Marengo and Waterloo, and explains the mystery of Iowa’s distinctly French-looking flag. Along the way, Dr. Barker muses on other Napoleon-related matters, such as Empire waist gowns, Goethe's and Byron's Bonapartism, the aftermath of the Battle of Waterloo, the Congress of Vienna, and to what extent Europe's current internal contradictions have been impacted by its Napoleonic past.
Iowa New Play Festival
Lucia
Directed by Kayla Adams
Part of Iowa New Play Festival – Reading Series
Selections from the Undergraduate Playwrights Workshop
Part of Iowa New Play Festival – Reading Series
Spanish MFA Graduate Reading
Iowa New Play Festival
BEARS BEARS BEARS BEARS BEARS
Directed by M D Frank
Part of Iowa New Play Festival – Reading Series
Drag'daLore: The Musical Ballroom Epic
Music by Mark Bruckner and Adrian Enzastiga
Directed and Choreographed by Michael C. Flores
Part of Iowa New Play Festival – Production Series
Jeffrey Winters with IPR's Ben Kieffer in partnership with the ICFRC, Prairie Lights, IPR, and the Englert, hosted by ICFRC director Peter Gerlach - "The Blind Spot"
In this discussion of The Blind Spot, political scientist Jeffrey Winters, with Iowa Public Radio host Ben Kieffer, delivers an urgent, incisive account of how we reached this era of in-your-face oligarchy, exposing how modern democracy was developed to protect the interests of the ultra-rich. By tracing the evolution of oligarchy across the globe and through modern history, he demonstrates how the rule of the wealthy isn’t just a flaw in our democracy, it has been built into its very foundations. Now, in an extraordinary paradox, we exist in a state of “participatory inequality”: a world in which 99.99% of us participate openly and freely—democratically, even—in our own ongoing exclusion and disenfranchisement.
Drag'daLore: The Musical Ballroom Epic
Music by Mark Bruckner and Adrian Enzastiga
Directed and Choreographed by Michael C. Flores
Part of Iowa New Play Festival – Production Series
Iowa New Play Festival
Read on the Rug
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...
Hail Mary
Directed by Meredith G. Healy
Part of Iowa New Play Festival – Reading Series
Deep Fried Dolphins
Directed by Tony Meneses, Cianon Jones, and the Cast & Team of Deep Fried Dolphins
Part of Iowa New Play Festival – Production Series
Deep Fried Dolphins
Directed by Tony Meneses, Cianon Jones, and the Cast & Team of Deep Fried Dolphins
Part of Iowa New Play Festival – Production Series
Live from Prairie Lights | Uchenna Awoke in conv with Reyumeh Ejue - "A Seige of Owls"
Live from Prairie Lights | Mitchell L.H. Douglas in conversation with Lauren Haldeman - "Universal Corner"
Live from Prairie Lights | Barry Markovsky - "Everyday Extraordinary"
Barry Markovsky is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of South Carolina. His articles on ghosts, UFOs, and coincidences appear at TheConversation.com, which disseminates them to major news outlets worldwide. To date, more than a million readers have downloaded them. He has appeared on radio programs nationally and worldwide: “Morning Edition” on NPR, “Nightlife” on ABC Australia, and Public Radio International’s “The World,” to name a few. He has also made numerous TV, radio, and print appearances in local markets, from L.A. to New York, and in many other countries.
Application Deadline: Summer 2026 Obermann Writing Collective
This program offers accountability to artists, scholars, and researchers working on any kind of writing project (articles, essays, fellowship or grant applications, dissertations, book projects, edited volumes, etc.) who want dedicated time, a cozy space, and a community for the practice of writing.Each group meets once a week for 1.5 hours. Weekly writing sessions include brief check-ins, goal setting, and sustained writing time. All groups are open to everyone in the University of Iowa...
Write at the Stanley: A Generative Writing Workshop
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
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
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...
Read on the Rug
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...
Art & Write Night
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
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...
Art & Write Night
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
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...
Art & Write Night
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
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...
Read on the Rug
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...
Art & Write Night
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...