A comprehensive initiative composed of several integrated elements that features a Digital Diaries Exhibit that showcases the firsthand experiences of youth across the globe, focusing on themes of war, struggle,
Amanda Jones has been an educator for 23 years, at the same middle school she attended as a child. She has served as President of the Louisiana Association of School
Christopher Merrill has published eight collections of poetry, including Watch Fire, for which he received the Lavan Younger Poets Award from the Academy of American Poets, and On the Road to Lviv;
In this panel, writers will discuss place and setting as key in many kinds of writing. They will explore the following questions: How do you convey a sense of place
Stop by the lobby of the Iowa City Public Library between festival events to browse for a new (to you) book.
508 Press | Annie's Foundation | Candle Light Press | Catharsis Lit Mag | Cave Writing Project | Earthwords: The Undergraduate Literary Review | Europa Editions | Final Thursday Press
Jennifer Croft won the Man Booker International Prize for her translation from Polish of Nobel laureate Olga Tokarczuk’s Flights. She is the author of Homesick, a Saroyan Prize winner, and numerous pieces
Josh Cowen is Professor of Education Policy at Michigan State University, and an author on topics related to education politics, school choice, and culture wars in the United States. In
Marguerite (Maggie) Sheffer is a writer who lives in New Orleans. She is a Professor of Practice at Tulane University, where she teaches courses in design thinking and speculative fiction
A discussion on film criticism and writing, featuring accomplished film writers Jonathan Rosenbaum (Chicago Reader) and Marya E. Gates (RogerEbert.com) moderated by Ariana Martinez of Little Village.
Elizabeth Willis is the author of Liontaming in America (New Directions, 2024), a hybrid work engaged with American belief and relationship structures, theatre, activism, and film. The collection is on the
Sometimes in life, you find yourself lost in an utterly dark place. When poet and author Jarod K. Anderson found himself trapped by a deep and lonely depression, he turned to the woods, literally. In his new book, Something in the Woods Loves You, Anderson explores
Born and raised in Reno, Nevada, Willy Vlautin is the author of six novels and is the founder of the bands Richmond Fontaine and The Delines. Vlautin started writing stories
In this panel, writers will discuss how the current political landscape affects their work and the role politics plays in their writing. Featuring: Hatice Açıkgöz (International Writing Program), Ari Berman,
A novel-poem taking us to the Pulitzer-prize winning poet Forrest Gander's birthplace in the Mojave Desert and his current northern California home, where tumultuous memories coalesce with the present. Mojave
Join author James Fitzmaurice for a conversation about his new young adult novel, Hobgoblin Gennel. In this off-beat tale of adventure, teenagers Irie and Fred are fast friends. Irie, of
Ari Berman is the national voting rights correspondent for Mother Jones and a reporting fellow at Type Media Center. He will read from Minority Rule: The Right-Wing Attack on the Will
With his signature crackling prose, literary master Chris Offutt has staked out his own territory in crime fiction, a place of familial allegiances, old wounds, and revenge—the code of the
Poets Perry Janes, Anna Morrison and Hannah Bonner will read from and discuss their work, in partnership with Refocus Film Festival.
In this panel, writers will discuss some of their favorite writing by others, sharing the things they like to read and important books they would like to recommend. Featuring: Nicolás
Natalie Goldberg has influenced generations of aspiring creative writers with books like Writing Down the Bones and Wild Mind. Her books offer down-to-earth guidance for developing a meaningful writing practice in the real
After performing his score for Yakov Protazanov’s pioneering sci-fi film Aelita: Queen of Mars as part of FilmScene's Refocus Film Festival, Ribot joins the Iowa City Book Festival where he will read from his book
The Body Alone is an inquiry into the experience, meaning, and articulation of pain. It is a personal hybrid account incorporating research, scholarship, and memoir to examine chronic pain through the
In this panel, writers will discuss place and setting as key in many kinds of writing. They will explore the following questions: How do you convey a sense of place
Moving between New York City, Mexico City, and Iowa City, a young member of the Mexican elite sees his life splinter in a centuries-spanning debut that blends the Latin American
