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X-WR-CALNAME:Iowa City UNESCO City of Literature
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X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Iowa City UNESCO City of Literature
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DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260813T100000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260813T100000
DTSTAMP:20260812T194609
CREATED:20260708T155437Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260708T155437Z
UID:5672-1786615200-1786615200@www.iowacityofliterature.org
SUMMARY:PorchLight: Writing Grief
DESCRIPTION:Grief Writing – A monthly exploration of loss and heartbreak \nJennifer New leads this monthly group that uses writing as a reflective tool to explore loss. Francis Weller’s Five Gates of Grief provides a backbone to consider grief from multiple angles\, e.g.\, death of loved ones\, loss of health or ability\, grief for the world. This is an ongoing group; you’re welcome to attend once or each time. No writing experience is needed.
URL:https://www.iowacityofliterature.org/event/porchlight-writing-grief/2026-08-13/
LOCATION:PorchLight Literary Arts Center\, 1019 E Washington St\, Iowa City\, 52240\, United States
CATEGORIES:General
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260816T153000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260816T153000
DTSTAMP:20260812T194609
CREATED:20260811T152941Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260811T152941Z
UID:5821-1786894200-1786894200@www.iowacityofliterature.org
SUMMARY:PorchLight: The Prose Exchange
DESCRIPTION:Ready to get some eyes on your work? This group provides careful readings and positive\, descriptive feedback on works-in-progress. They meet twice a month and workshop two submissions of up to 20 pages at each meeting.  \nThey are currently open to adding one or two more members.  \nThey advise sitting in on a session to determine if this is the workshop for you.  \nFor more information on how to join\, visit their website!
URL:https://www.iowacityofliterature.org/event/porchlight-the-prose-exchange-2/
LOCATION:PorchLight Literary Arts Center\, 1019 E Washington St\, Iowa City\, 52240\, United States
CATEGORIES:General
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DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260816T173000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260816T173000
DTSTAMP:20260812T194609
CREATED:20260707T173339Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260708T152948Z
UID:5652-1786901400-1786901400@www.iowacityofliterature.org
SUMMARY:Free Generative Writing Workshop for July: Griffin Rockwell
DESCRIPTION:Co-sponsored by Iowa City Poetry and PorchLight Literary Arts Center \nThe Free Generative Writing Workshops provide a space for career writers\, curious beginners\, writers of all levels and stages of life. Their goal is to make it easy to meet and learn from some of the most talented writer/teachers living in or passing through Iowa City. Every month a new writer leads a generative workshop\, presenting a prompt inspired by their own preoccupations\, passions\, or interests. \nGriffin Rockwell is a queer poet who often writes about gender\, science\, pop culture\, and unusual connections. Xe is the author of the chapbooks listen— (Interstellar Flight Press)\, body in motion (perhappened press)\, and Lexicon of Future Selves (VA Press). Their work has also appeared in AGNI\, Okay Donkey\, Santa Fe Review\, Poet Lore\, Whale Road Review\, HAD\, and elsewhere. They earned their MFA at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and their MLitt at the University of Dundee \nFor more information visit the websites of Iowa City Poetry and/or PorchLight Literary Arts Center!
URL:https://www.iowacityofliterature.org/event/free-generative-writing-workshop-for-july-griffin-rockwell/
LOCATION:PorchLight Literary Arts Center\, 1019 E Washington St\, Iowa City\, 52240\, United States
CATEGORIES:General
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.iowacityofliterature.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Free-Gen-Griffin.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260817T103000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260817T103000
DTSTAMP:20260812T194609
CREATED:20260714T160440Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260714T160440Z
UID:5684-1786962600-1786962600@www.iowacityofliterature.org
SUMMARY:PorchLight: Write Now - Community Supported Writing Group
DESCRIPTION:PorchLight’s Write Now Writer’s Group provides community\, and learning opportunities for beginning to intermediate writers. At their monthly meetings\, share short craft lessons\, generate writing from prompts\, and\, on occasion\, provide responses to participants’ work in progress. Writers working in any genre are welcome. \nThis is a great group for writers who have not had the time or opportunity to pursue a traditional MFA. \nRSVP one week in advance on their website!
URL:https://www.iowacityofliterature.org/event/porchlight-write-now-community-supported-writing-group/2026-08-17/
LOCATION:PorchLight Literary Arts Center\, 1019 E Washington St\, Iowa City\, 52240\, United States
CATEGORIES:General
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.iowacityofliterature.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-14-at-10.57.53-AM.png
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260817T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260817T190000
DTSTAMP:20260812T194609
CREATED:20260811T155027Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260811T155027Z
UID:5844-1786993200-1786993200@www.iowacityofliterature.org
SUMMARY:PrairieLights: Reading – Asha Leena Bhandary – Being at Home: Living Autonomously in an Unjust World
DESCRIPTION:University of Iowa professor Asha Leena Bhandary will read from her new book\, Being at Home: Living Autonomously in an Unjust World. Described as a “a care-responsive theory of liberalism to address intersectionality and racism\,” Being at Home is praised by José Medina\, Walter Dill Scott Professor of Philosophy at Northwestern University\, as “an ambitious and brilliant rethinking of the notion of autonomy from a relational and intersectional perspective\, bringing together liberalism and critical philosophy of race and gender in original ways.” It’s also praised by Ashwini Vasanthakumar\, author of The Ethics of Exile\, who says: “An artful synthesis of memoir\, philosophy\, law\, and literature\, this is a beautifully written meditation on home-making in an unjust world\, and the practices of buoyancy and community that enable those who live ‘counterfactually’ to nevertheless be ‘at home.” \nAsha Bhandary is a social and political philosopher working at the intersection of the ethics of care\, philosophy of race\, reproductive justice\, and political theory. Her work focuses on the structural and distributive requirements for caregiving arrangements in society\, developing critical care theory that illuminates racialized and non-western practices of care. In her first monograph\, Freedom to Care: Liberalism\, Dependency Care\, and Culture (2020)\, she argues that society’s caregiving arrangements must be improved if women\, and\, women of color\, are to have the freedom to care. In her second monograph\, Being at Home: Living Autonomously in an Unjust World (2026)\, she defends the theory of intersectional liberalism\, which proceeds from the subject position of the least advantaged\, or what she defines as the “grafted subject” (ashabhandary.com).
URL:https://www.iowacityofliterature.org/event/prairielights-reading-asha-leena-bhandary-being-at-home-living-autonomously-in-an-unjust-world/
LOCATION:Prairie Lights Books\, 15 S. Dubuque St.\, Iowa City\, IA\, 52240\, United States
CATEGORIES:General
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260819T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260819T190000
DTSTAMP:20260812T194609
CREATED:20260623T164532Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260623T164532Z
UID:5618-1787166000-1787166000@www.iowacityofliterature.org
SUMMARY:Sidekick: Reading\, Signing and Conversation with Naomi Kritzer
DESCRIPTION:Join Sidekick Coffee & Books for a reading from author Naomi Kritzer on Wednesday\, August 19th at 7 pm in conversation with author Katie Runde and Doctor Stephanie Radke. \nOne book purchase admits one person. \nAbout the book: Doctor Liz has just been acquitted for performing the last abortion in North Dakota when she’s kidnapped. \nThey’re not just any kidnappers\, but a fundamentalist cult\, deep in the rural west\, without respect for law or decency\, and in desperate need of an OB/GYN. \nGuarded\, isolated\, without access to the outside world\, Liz nevertheless is treated with respect as the only doctor on the compound\, but she is very aware of what happened to the last obstetrician they kidnapped. \nShe must escape\, and bring help to the girls trapped at the compound\, if it’s the last thing she does. \nAbout the Author: \nNaomi Kritzer has been re-reading favorite books since childhood\, and probably still has passages from A Wrinkle in Time memorized. She writes for both adults and teens\, including Catfishing on CatNet and Chaos on CatNet from Tor Teen and Liberty’s Daughter from Fairwood Press. Her writing has won the Hugo Award\, the Nebula Award\, the Edgar Award\, the Locus Award\, and the Minnesota Book Award. Naomi lives in St. Paul\, Minnesota\, with her family and three cats. The number of cats is subject to change without notice.
URL:https://www.iowacityofliterature.org/event/sidekick-reading-signing-and-conversation-with-naomi-kritzer/
LOCATION:Sidekick Coffee & Books\, 1310 1/2 Melrose Avenue\, Iowa City\, IA\, 52242\, United States
CATEGORIES:General
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260821T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260821T190000
DTSTAMP:20260812T194609
CREATED:20260811T153541Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260811T153541Z
UID:5832-1787338800-1787338800@www.iowacityofliterature.org
SUMMARY:PorchLight: Send It In!
DESCRIPTION:Curious about where and how to submit your writing to journals or contests? Would some camaraderie help you finally send off that finished piece or complete that residency or fellowship application? Putting your work out there can be hard in a discipline in which rejection is par for the course. \nEach session a different writer will present on an aspect of the submission process. Then\, browse through PorchLights resources or find a cozy chair and get to work! \nThis session’s host will be Scott Russell Morris\, who will talk about poetry versus prose submissions\, how to manage simultaneous submissions\, and how to find the right literary journal for your work. Scott is a writer and enthusiast. He is the author of Points of Tangency: Essays (Cornerstone Press\, Sept 2024) and is the editor and creator of Magpie Zines\, a zine about tarot\, magpies\, and found meaning. He is the Poet Laureate of Mt Vernon\, IA\, and an Associate Professor of English and Creative Writing at Cornell College. \nDrinks and snacks will be served. \nThis session is just for members.
URL:https://www.iowacityofliterature.org/event/porchlight-send-it-in/
LOCATION:PorchLight Literary Arts Center\, 1019 E Washington St\, Iowa City\, 52240\, United States
CATEGORIES:General
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DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260826T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260826T190000
DTSTAMP:20260812T194609
CREATED:20260722T171045Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260722T171045Z
UID:5723-1787770800-1787770800@www.iowacityofliterature.org
SUMMARY:PrairieLights – A Reading with Matthew Neill Null\, Floodgate
DESCRIPTION:Writers’ Workshop graduate Matthew Neill Hull will read from his new novel\, Floodgate. Described by publisher Blair as a story about “a former West Virginia coal miner [who] encounters corruption and cultural upheaval working on a dam project that will submerge his town\,” Floodgate is praised by Jayne Anne Phillips\, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Night Watch\, as ” a masterpiece and a saga\,” while Rita Bullwinkel\, author of Headshot\, says: “A lushly rendered\, politically radical novel that illuminates not only the American past\, but also our present.” \nA writer from West Virginia\, Matthew Neill Null is author of the novel Honey from the Lion\, the story collection Allegheny Front\, and\, most recently\, the novel Floodgate. He is recipient of the O. Henry Award\, the Pushcart Prize\, the Mary McCarthy Prize\, and the Joseph Brodsky Rome Prize Fellowship in Literature from the American Academy of Arts & Letters\, and his short fiction has appeared in Electric Literature\, Oxford American\, The Kenyon Review\, American Short Fiction\, Ecotone\, and the Missouri Review\, among other journals. He has been a fellow at the Fine Arts Work Center\, the University of Iowa\, and the American Academy in Rome\, as well as a resident at Yaddo and the Jentel Foundation\, and his books have been published in translation in France and Italy. National Book Award-winner Jaimy Gordon writes\, “Matthew Neill Null is bound to become one of the most admired and influential fiction writers of his generation.” Booklist said about Null’s debut novel\, “Beautifully written in fresh\, lyrical prose\, Honey from the Lion brilliantly creates a land and a people experiencing tremendous change. Null successfully and engagingly presents the consequences of this change for both humans and the environment\, leaving readers feeling like witnesses to it all.” He currently is Associate Professor of Creative Writing at Susquehanna University and a member of the Writing Committee at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown.
URL:https://www.iowacityofliterature.org/event/prairielights-a-reading-with-matthew-neill-null-floodgate/
LOCATION:Prairie Lights Books\, 15 S. Dubuque St.\, Iowa City\, IA\, 52240\, United States
CATEGORIES:General
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DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260828T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260828T190000
DTSTAMP:20260812T194609
CREATED:20260811T154033Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260811T154033Z
UID:5835-1787943600-1787943600@www.iowacityofliterature.org
SUMMARY:PorchLight: Rooftop Music and Reading Series
DESCRIPTION:Join PorchLight on the deck of Market House in IC’s North Side for an evening of music\, poetry\, and prose. The Rooftop Music & Reading Series brings together some of Iowa’s most exciting artists for a one-of-a-kind collaborative program. Bring a buddy\, date\, or come alone. Stay for the lovely views\, and good company. \nOur August session features: \nJordan Sellergren: Jordan Sellergren is the owner and publisher of Little Village\, Iowa’s independent news\, arts and culture magazine. Her second full-length album\, “Sweet\, Bitter Tears” was released in 2020. \nElizabeth Willis: Elizabeth Willis’s most recent book is Liontaming in America (New Directions\, 2024). Her previous books of poetry include Alive: New and Selected Poems (New York Review Books\, 2015)\, which was a finalist for the 2016 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry; Address (Wesleyan University Press\, 2011)\, recipient of the PEN New England/L. L. Winship Prize for Poetry; Meteoric Flowers (Wesleyan University Press\, 2006); Turneresque (Burning Deck\, 2003); The Human Abstract (Penguin\, 1995); and Second Law (Avenue B\, 1993). She also writes about contemporary poetry and has edited a volume of essays entitled Radical Vernacular: Lorine Niedecker and the Poetics of Place (University of Iowa Press\, 2008). \nMark Levine: Mark Levine is the author of five books of poems\, most recently Sound Fury (2022)\, as well as Debt (1993)\, Enola Gay (2000)\, The Wilds (2006)\, and Travels of Marco (2016)\, and a book of nonfiction reportage\, F5 (2007). A twenty-fifth anniversary edition of Debt\, with an introduction by Srikanth Reddy\, was published in 2018. Recipient of a Whiting Writers’ Award\, an NEA\, and a Hodder Fellowship from Princeton\, Levine’s poems have be featured in anthologies including Best American Poetry\, Pushcart Prize Anthology\, American Hybrid: A Norton Anthology\, and American Poets in the Twenty-First Century: The New Poetics. Levine has also worked extensively as a long-form journalist for publications including The New York Times Magazine\, The New Yorker\, Outside\, New York\, and Men’s Journal\, and his work has been selected for Best American Magazine Writing and Best American Sports Writing. He is the longtime editor of the Kuhl House Poets series at University of Iowa Press. \nSarah Minor: Dr. Sarah Minor is a writer and interdisciplinary artist and the author of books Slim Confessions: The Universe as a Spider or Spit\, winner of the Noemi Press Book Award for Prose (2021)\, Bright Archive (Rescue Press\, 2020)\, a finalist for the CLMP Firecracker Award in Nonfiction\, and winner of the Big Other Award in Nonfiction and the hybrid chapbook\, The Persistence of The Bonyleg: Annotated (Essay Press 2016)\, winner of the Essay Press Digital Chapbook Contest. Her newest book\, Carousel\, was recently published by Yale University Press in July 2026.
URL:https://www.iowacityofliterature.org/event/porchlight-rooftop-music-and-reading-series/
LOCATION:Market House\, 202 N. Linn St.\, Iowa City\, IA\, 52240\, United States
CATEGORIES:General
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DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260830T153000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260830T153000
DTSTAMP:20260812T194609
CREATED:20260811T152941Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260811T152941Z
UID:5823-1788103800-1788103800@www.iowacityofliterature.org
SUMMARY:PorchLight: The Prose Exchange
DESCRIPTION:Ready to get some eyes on your work? This group provides careful readings and positive\, descriptive feedback on works-in-progress. They meet twice a month and workshop two submissions of up to 20 pages at each meeting.  \nThey are currently open to adding one or two more members.  \nThey advise sitting in on a session to determine if this is the workshop for you.  \nFor more information on how to join\, visit their website!
URL:https://www.iowacityofliterature.org/event/porchlight-the-prose-exchange-2/2026-08-30/
LOCATION:PorchLight Literary Arts Center\, 1019 E Washington St\, Iowa City\, 52240\, United States
CATEGORIES:General
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/avif:https://www.iowacityofliterature.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/82ce62_8350b311c14c44f8b461627d4c759adcmv2.avif
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260830T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260830T160000
DTSTAMP:20260812T194609
CREATED:20260811T155503Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260811T155503Z
UID:5847-1788105600-1788105600@www.iowacityofliterature.org
SUMMARY:Prairie Lights: IWP Sunday Afternoon Reading Series
DESCRIPTION:Join Prairie Lights for their annual IWP Sunday Afternoon Reading Series! This week’s event features IWP Residents Sarah Gilmartin (Ireland) and Iván Hochman (Argentina). They will be accompanied by local author and IWP Senior Editor Lauren Haldeman and a current Iowa Writers’ Workshop student (to be announced soon). \nSarah Gilmartin’s short stories have been published in The Dublin Review\, The Tangerine and The Stinging Fly. She won the Máirtín Crawford Short Story Award in 2020. Her novels Dinner Party: A Tragedy (2021)\, Service (2023) and Little Vanities (2026) are published by Pushkin Press. They have been shortlisted for the Irish Books Awards\, the Kate O’Brien Award\, and translated into Italian\, German and (forthcoming) French. She was the 2025 Arts Council Writer-in-Residence at Dublin City University. \nIván Hochman (b. 1994\, Buenos Aires\, Argentina) is an actor\, writer\, screenwriter\, director\, and teacher. His play Decir te amo es un atentado received a National Playwriting Award from the Teatro Nacional Cervantes and was presented at the Bienal de Arte Joven. He was selected for the Cannes Writers Club at Canneseries (2024) for his work as a screenwriter. His first novel\, Por qué te vas (Milena Caserola\, 2020; Alfaguara\, 2023)\, was included in the Mapa de las Lenguas collection (2024). His second novel\, Años luz que no brillamos\, is forthcoming from Alfaguara. He starred in the Netflix series Love After Music\, for which he received several acting awards. He is currently working on a science fiction short story collection and two feature films. He teaches creative writing and mentors long-form literary projects. \nLauren Haldeman is the author/illustrator of the graphic novels Wild That We’re Alive and Team Photograph\, and the poetry collections Instead of Dying (winner of the 2017 Colorado Prize for Poetry\, Center for Literary Publishing\, 2017)\, Calenday and the chapbook The Eccentricity is Zero. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Poetry\, Tin House\, The Colorado Review\, Fence\, The Iowa Review\, Gulf Coast and The Rumpus. A poet\, web designer and comic book artist\, she has been a recipient of the Sustainable Arts Foundation Award\, a Vermont Studio Center residency\, the Colorado Prize for Poetry and fellowships from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop.
URL:https://www.iowacityofliterature.org/event/prairie-lights-iwp-sunday-afternoon-reading-series/
LOCATION:Prairie Lights Books\, 15 S. Dubuque St.\, Iowa City\, IA\, 52240\, United States
CATEGORIES:General
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