English

Why Iowa?

Immerse yourself in the world of literature, books, and creative writing–in a college and community obsessed with the written word.

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Build a Foundation

If you love reading and writing, you belong at Iowa. Declare the English or English and Creative Writing major, and join a community dedicated to exploring–and creating–great literature.

Build a Foundation

Develop your literary scholarship. Hone your creative writing. Delve into book studies. Harness the digital humanities. Prepare for success in the academy, public service, education, and the literary arts and professions.

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Learn from Experts

Our faculty are creating the future of the English disciplines, inspired by our storied past. They advance scholarship and artistry in a welcoming academic community internationally recognized for literary excellence.

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Top Public University for Writing

Iowa's strength in writing reaches new level in annual U.S. News & World Report ranking

Thomas Mira y Lopez and Kaveh Akbar awarded Discovery and Innovation Awards by the Office of the Vice President for Research

Monday, March 31, 2025

Kaveh Akbar in The Nation

Monday, March 31, 2025

photo of Kaveh Akbar in front of a bookshelf

Kaveh Akbar profiled in Iowa Now

Thursday, February 27, 2025

Kaveh Akbar, associate professor and director of the English and Creative Writing major at the University of Iowa, first drew acclaim for his poetry.

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Sydney Mayes english and creative writing student

"Iowa City is the place to be– specifically the University of Iowa–if you want to be a writer and if you want to have access to incredible resources around writing. The reputation is insane."

- Sydney Mayes, English and Creative Writing major

Hear Sydney's "Why Iowa"

Upcoming Events

Knowledge of Nothing: Apocalyptic Ekphrasis in The Flowers of Evil

Thursday, April 17, 2025 2:00pm to 3:30pm

English-Philosophy Building

Nathan Brown will be presenting. Nathan Brown is Professor of English and Canada Research Chair in Poetics at Concordia University, Montreal, where he directs the Centre for Expanded Poetics. He is the author of Baudelaire's Shadow: An Essay on Poetic Determination (MaMa, 2021); Rationalist Empiricism: A Theory of Speculative Critique (Fordham, 2021); and The Limits of Fabrication: Materials Science, Materialist Poetics (Fordham, 2017). His translation of Baudelaire's The Flowers of Evil was...

The Nonfiction Writing Program Presents: Austin Araujo

Friday, May 2, 2025 7:00pm

Prairie Lights Books

Austin Araujo, Grad Student at the Nonfiction Writing Program, will read from his new book At the Park on the Edge of the Country with Patrycja Humienik at Prairie Lights Books on Friday, May 2 at 7 p.m.

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