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...

Historian and Peabody Award-winning journalist Jelani Cobb emerges as a clear voice in the fight for a better America. A PBS Frontline correspondent for two critically acclaimed documentaries, Cobb explores the complexities of race and inequality, while offering guidance and hope for the future. A longtime writer for The New Yorker, Cobb’s work is described as having the “rigor and depth of a professional historian with the alertness of a reporter, the liberal passion of an engaged public intellectual, and the literary flair of a fine writer.”

The Obermann Center's 2023 Humanities Three-Minute Thesis (3MT) will take place from 3 to 5 p.m on Thursday, Sept. 28 at the Iowa City Public Library. REGISTER HERE. This 3MT is specially designed to feature the work of UI humanities graduate students. The 3MT event challenges graduate students to articulate their complex research clearly and concisely to non-specialist audiences in three minutes or fewer. The presented research can be a student’s thesis or PhD work, research related to an...

What might 19th-century print practices teach us about large language models like ChatGPT? This talk will address that question from several angles. First, the talk will draw on research from the Viral Texts digital humanities project (https://viraltexts.org) to consider how historical practices of text reuse, such as the reprinting that undergirded American newspapers in the 19th century, might help scholars situate 21st-century language models in a long tradition of "unoriginal" writing...

Writer Patricia Foster, professor emerita at the University of Iowa's Nonfiction Writing Program, will read from her new collection of essays, Written in the Sky: Lessons of a Southern Daughter, on Thursday, Sept. 28 at 7 p.m. at Prairie Lights Books. A conversation with NWP alum and poet/essayist Darius Stewart will follow. All are welcome to attend this Krause Series in Contemporary Nonfiction event.

Please join us at FilmScene this fall for a monthly screening and discussion series, Out of the Archive: Envisioning Blackness. A continuation of conversations begun last spring in the inaugural Out of the Archive program, the series showcases the vibrant, multifaceted tradition of Black cinema by presenting rarely screened and/or recently restored films. Tickets are pay-what-you-can (with students, in particular, encouraged to pick $0). Join us before each screening for a free dinner reception...

The Truman Capote Award Ceremony will take place at 4 p.m. Oct. 4 in the Old Capitol Senate Chamber. The event will feature remarks by the winner and a reception in the Old Capitol Museum. Both events are open to the public. R.A. Judy, professor of critical and cultural studies at the University of Pittsburgh, has been selected by the University of Iowa as the 2023 recipient of the Truman Capote Literary Trust Award for Literary Criticism in Memory of Newton Arvin. To subscribe to a weekly...

Recently, there has been an escalation of book bans and censorship in public school classrooms and libraries across the U.S. Many of the current book ban campaigns target books by or about LGBTQIA+ persons and people of color. In this Obermann Conversation, an outreach librarian, two scholars of education, and the director of a local cultural institution will discuss the history of book bans in the Midwest as well as nationally, and look forward to a future with access to books for all...

The Department of English welcomes Ida Cordelia Beam Speaker, Jane Smiley, to speak on Thursday, Oct. 5 at 7 p.m. Jane is a Pulitzer-Prize winning author and alumni of the University of Iowa's Department of English. A reception will follow. Her visit is made possible with the support of the Provost's office and the Department of English.

The Writers' Workshop presents a Q&A with Vauhini Vara.  To subscribe to a weekly emailing list of Writers' Workshop events, please fill in the linked form or email iww@uiowa.edu with “Events Mailing List Subscribe” in the subject line.

Ryan Ruby Independant Writer, Critic Berlin

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...

Margo Steines, author of the nonfiction book BRUTALITIES, will read at Prairie Lights Books on Friday, October 6 at 7pm.

Margo Steines, author of the nonfiction book "Brutalities," will read at Prairie Lights Books on Friday, Oct. 6 at 7 p.m.

2023 is the 400th Anniversary of Shakespeare’s First Folio—the first collected edition of his works, and the first publication ever of plays including Macbeth and The Tempest. Why are we still reading and performing his works all these years later? How do we situate Shakespeare’s plays in a contemporary context? Join us for a roundtable discussion on Shakespeare in the 21st century. Panelists: Blaine Greteman (English) Gina Hausknecht (English, Coe College) Adam Knight (Producing Artistic...

Please join us for our annual invited Iowa Bibliophiles lecture as we study Shakespeare’s world through a unique lens.

Hear Iowa Writers’ Workshop graduate, renowned novelist, and Oscar award-winning screenwriter John Irving (67MFA) read from his latest novel, The Last Chairlift, during this special evening at Hancher Auditorium, which will include a chat between the author and Workshop Director Lan Samantha Chang. Irving studied under writer Kurt Vonnegut at Iowa and served as an Iowa Writers’ Workshop instructor from 1972 to 1975. While on campus, the avid wrestler struck up a lifelong friendship with famed...

Please join us for a panel discussion with three internationally recognized leaders on the Hong Kong literary scene as they share their experiences with writing, editing, translating, and publishing in Hong Kong, and the challenges of literary translation and publishing in a wider global context.

UI Nonfiction Writing Program alum Micah Fields reads from his new book, We Hold Our Breath: A Journey to Texas Between Storms, on Thursday, Oct. 19 at 7 p.m. at Prairie Lights Books. This Krause Series in Contemporary Nonfiction event is sponsored by the Nonfiction Writing Program. All are welcome.

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...

UI English Reads - discussion led by Dr. Lori Branch & Dr. Anna Barker Undergrad students, grad students and faculty are invited!  

Nonfiction Writing Program professors Tisa Bryant, author of Unexplained Presence, and Sarah Minor, author of Bright Archive, will read from their work on Friday, Oct. 27 at 7 p.m. at the Nonfiction Writing House (530 North Clinton Street).

UI Nonfiction Writing Program alum Brittany Means will read from her new book of essays, Hell If We Don't Change Our Ways, on Thursday, Nov. 2 at 7 p.m. at Prairie Lights Books. This Krause Series in Contemporary Nonfiction event, sponsored by the Nonfiction Writing Program, is open to the public.

Heather Love Professor of English University of Pennsylvania

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...