Christopher Merrill Receives the 2026 Paul Engle Prize

Coralville Public Library 1401 5th St., Coralville, IA

Christopher Merrill has been named the 15th recipient of the Paul Engle Prize, presented by the Iowa City UNESCO City of Literature organization. The prize, established in 2011, honors an

Marilynne Robinson and Nicholas Kristof

Macbride Auditorium 17 N. Clinton St., Iowa City, IA

Marilynne Robinson and Nicholas Kristof in Conversation Marilynne Robinson is the author of the novels Housekeeping, Gilead, Home, Lila, and Jack. Gilead won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the

Bonnie Jo Campbell: The Spirits

Prairie Lights Books 15 S. Dubuque St., Iowa City, IA

Bonnie Jo Campbell, a master of rural American fiction, brings us a hair-raising winter tale to warm us by the fireside. In this contemporary Christmas Carol, Campbell has created a gritty,

Megan Greenwell: Bad Company

Iowa City Public Library 123 S. Linn St., Iowa City, IA

Acclaimed journalist Megan Greenwell’s Bad Company unearths the hidden story of corporate greed and the world of private equity by examining the lives of four American workers that were devastated as private

Pilar Quintana: La perra (The Bitch)

Prairie Lights Books 15 S. Dubuque St., Iowa City, IA

On a bluff overlooking Colombia’s rough Pacific coast, at the edge of the jungle—a world where nothing is taken for granted –Damaris lives in a shack with her fisherman husband.

Slamovision: International Slam Poetry Judging

Iowa City Public Library 123 S. Linn St., Iowa City, IA

Join Iowa City poets and poetry lovers during the Iowa City Book Festival to watch and rank slam poets from UNESCO Cities of Literature around the world as they compete

Mark Leidner: Elegy for Pangaea

Prairie Lights Books 15 S. Dubuque St., Iowa City, IA

Mark Leidner’s third poetry collection, Elegy for Pangaea, is as funny, strange, and epic as his two previous collections, Returning the Sword to the Stone and Beauty Was the Case that They Gave Me.

Melissa Tedone: The Poison Book Project

University of Iowa Main Library 125 W Washington St,, Iowa City, IA

The Poison Book Project is an interdisciplinary research initiative at Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library and the University of Delaware. This ongoing investigation explores the materiality of Victorian-era publishers’ bindings.

An Evening with Pulitzer Prize Winner Yiyun Li

Levitt Center for University Advancement 1 East Park Road, Iowa City, IA

Internationally acclaimed author Yiyun Li won the 2026 Pulitzer Prize for her resonant memoir, Things in Nature Merely Grow, a deeply moving account of losing her younger son to suicide a