Ten months after her mother’s death, the narrator of The Hero of This Book takes a trip to London. The city was a favorite of her mother’s, and as the narrator wanders the streets, she finds herself reflecting on her mother’s life and their relationship. Thoughts of the past meld with questions of the future: Back in

“Nowhere near famous but still infamous,” Psalm One is a legend to rap nerds, scholars, and “heads,” and has gone on to work with the brightest names in rap and have her work celebrated and taught around the globe. In Her Word Is Bond, Psalm One tells her own story, from growing up in Englewood, Chicago through

All Harriet Szász has ever known is life onstage with her sister, Josie. As “The Sisters Sweet,” they pose as conjoined twins in a vaudeville act conceived of by their ambitious parents, who were once themselves theatrical stars. But after Josie exposes the family’s fraud and runs away to Hollywood, Harriet must learn to live

Local Author Book Fair! Join us as local authors present their latest works, answer questions, and sign books. Browse each author's table where various books will be available for purchase. Featuring: Lisa Avelleyra Nina Barragan Judith F. Brenner Lois A. Buntz Erin Casey Aprille Clarke Richard R. DiPirro Joseph Dobrian Corinne Stanley Mary Helen Stefaniak

A reading by Iowa Student Poet Ambassador, Johnnie Each, and Iowa Poet Laureate Debra Marquart. This event is live and in-person, and will be streamed live at: https://www.youtube.com/thelibrarychannel

"Iowa Intersections," a partnership between the City of Literature and the University of Iowa's Center for Language and Culture Learning, is a community-based multilingual digital storytelling initiative. Working with partners such as Kirkwood Community College, Open Heartland, and the Congolese Association, this initiative works with recent immigrants to the area to help them tell their stories. A

Special Collections & Archives is home to the Thomas Ollive Mabbott Papers, an intriguing collection of materials compiled by Mabbott, who was editor of the Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe. The papers include sources and inspirations for Poe’s work, first printings, and more. See select items up close before meeting the master of Gothic horror himself,

In this session, two of Iowa's leading spiritual writers discuss their work. Spiritual writing is a growing subgenre in fiction as well as in memoir, poetry, meditations, and self-help. It may or may not be aligned with an organized religion, faith, belief system, or philosophy, yet all spiritual writing seeks to discover human truths and also typically

Jerald Walker, author of the 2020 National Book Award finalist How to Make a Slave and Other Essays, will discuss that work and more. For the black community, Jerald Walker asserts in How to Make a Slave, “anger is often a prelude to a joke, as there is broad understanding that the triumph over this destructive emotion lay

Sit in on a one-of-a-kind conversation with Iowa Writers’ Workshop director and renowned novelist Lan Samantha Chang (93MFA), who will chat with host Charity Nebbe, of Iowa Public Radio’s Talk of Iowa, and read from her most recent book, The Family Chao. Oprah Daily Insider recognized Chang as one of eight women writers changing the world—and The Family Chao appeared

Simon & Schuster CEO Jonathan Karp will moderate a conversation about Identity: In Fiction and in Life, with New York Times bestselling authors John Irving and Jason Reynolds. The event will include an open chat, but no live Q&A.  We are accepting a limited number of pre-submitted questions from the registrants. This is a free,