Panel Discussion – The Black Superwoman & Mental Health: Power & Pain
2025-10-12 14:30 (America/Chicago) | DREAM CITY, 611 Southgate Avenue, Iowa City, IA, 52240, United States
Panelists will discuss this new anthology, The Black Superwoman & Mental Health: Power & Pain by Venise Berry and Janette Taylor.
It is not easy to reveal oneself and to be vulnerable in a public way as the authors in this book have done. This is the act of resisting the voices and social scripts that say we do not air our “dirty laundry”, we should keep “secrets” to remain safe, yet unhealthy. We must find safe spaces to speak our truths, to heal. It is through the process of seeking, doing, and being, sometimes in public like this anthology and sometimes in private (counseling or psychotherapy), that many of us learn to acknowledge, analyze, speak, and eventually write the truth of/about our lives in order to move closer to being whole Black women. Enjoy poetry, short stories, essays, and assessable research in this powerful anthology.
Featuring: Venise Berry, Professor of Journalism and African American Studies, University of Iowa; Averi Bryant, Graphic Arts Designer & Social Media Promoter; Katrina Harden-Williams, Doctoral Candidate in School of Education, Drake University; Tianna Newell, First Lady of Purpose Place Church in Iowa City; Tiana Warner, Spoken Word Artist, Writer.

Kazim Ali with Rajaa Alsanea and Yu Yuen Lan
2025-10-12 15:30 | Prairie Lights Books, 15 S. Dubuque St., Iowa City, IA, 52240, United States
Poet, novelist, and essayist Kazim Ali will read as a special guest of the University of Iowa’s International Writing Program. He is joined by IWP participants Rajaa Alsanea (Saudi Arabia) and Yu Yuen Lan (Hong Kong), who will also read from their work.

Little Village Presents: Roast of Iowa City
2025-10-12 18:00 | ReUnion Brewery, 113 E College St, Iowa City, 52240, United States
Year after year, some of the area’s most treasured comics and writers gather together to relentlessly burn and mock everything sacred and dear about our town. Doors open at 5:30 p.m.
This year is hosted by Karen Vásquez and features a lineup of talented comics, plus LV’s Dear Kiki Live!, where we read your anonymous love and relationship questions and Kiki answers them on the spot. The Roast of Iowa City is sponsored by Romantix, who said they’ll be sending a box of “fun prizes for on-stage giveaways.” =
This is and always has been a free event, but guests are encouraged to make a donation so Little Village can continue doing what they do (journalism, etc.) well into our dystopian future.

An Evening with Pulitzer Prize Winner Yiyun Li
2026-10-23 19:30 | TBD
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 little more than six years after her older son died in the same manner.
The Princeton University professor is the author of 12 books—and was a finalist for the 2024 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction. In addition, she is the recipient of the PEN/Faulkner Award, a PEN/Malamud Award, a PEN/Hemingway Award, a PEN/Jean Stein Book Award, a MacArthur Fellowship, and a Windham-Campbell Prize. Time Magazine also included Li on its list of 100 Most Influential People for 2026.
Melissa Febos, director of the University of Iowa Nonfiction Writing Program, will join Li in conversation. Febos is the national bestselling author of five books and the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, and the National Book Critics Circle Award in Criticism.
This event is possible due to generous support from Linda Maxson, professor emerita and former dean of the UI College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and her husband, Rick. It is being held in conjunction with the Iowa City Book Festival.
Literary Legends represents a special collaboration among the UI Nonfiction Writing Program, Iowa Writers’ Workshop, UI Lecture Committee, University of Iowa Center for Advancement, and Iowa City UNESCO City of Literature
