Paul Engle Glory of the Senses High School Essay Contest Deadline to Submit

To continue Paul Engle’s tradition of inspiring writers and celebrating the rich culture of Iowa, the City of Literature organization annually solicits essays from Iowa high school sophomore about an “Iowa experience,” drawing on a specific memory to capture the sights, sounds, smells, tastes and touches of the day. The author of the essay judged by reviewers

Caroline Shaw and Marilynne Robinson, In Conversation

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

On Wednesday, June 21, at 7 p.m., MusicIC will present a pre-recorded conversation between Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and essayist, Marilynne Robinson and Pulitzer Prize- and Grammy Award–winning composer Caroline Shaw, moderated by MusicIC’s Founding Artist Director Tricia Park. The women will discuss Shaw’s string quartet Three Essays, the first movement of which was written to

Centering Women’s Perspectives

Trinity Episcopal Church 320 E. College St, Iowa City, IA

Thursday’s concert, Centering Women’s Perspectives, will feature myriad contemporary female composers, incorporating perspectives from a collection of Western and non-Western musical traditions. The program aims to re-examine musical and literary hierarchies by presenting string quartets of oral- based storytelling songs from Mali, Indian Ragas, and melodies based on Iranian poetry. Composers represented on this concert

Anonymous Was a Woman (ticketed event)

Riverside Theatre - A pre-concert lecture will begin at 6:30 p.m., followed by the concert at 7:30 p.m. 119 E. College St., Iowa City

A pre-concert lecture by Marian Wilson Kimber will begin at 6:30 p.m., followed by the concert at 7:30 p.m. Friday, June 23, will see MusicIC present Anonymous Was a Woman, an intimate concert at 7:30 p.m. at Riverside Theatre (119 E College Street), drawing connections between two powerhouse women: Prominent English author and feminist icon,

Family Concert

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

To round out the season, MusicIC will return to the Iowa City Public Library to perform its beloved family concert at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, June 24, featuring a program of musical storytelling for kids of all ages, in partnership with the Iowa City Public Library children’s department.  

SlamoVision Poetry Competition

PS1 Close House 538 S Gilbert St, Iowa City, IA

Slam poets from around Iowa are invited to participate in a special international slam event in Iowa City on Oct. 2. SlamoVision is a project of the international UNESCO Cities of Literature. Slam poets in some of the 42 Cities of Literature around the world will compete in their home cities. One poet from each

One Community One Book: The Farm by Joanne Ramos

C20 Pomerantz Center 213 N Clinton St, Iowa City

The 2023 One Community, One Book is The Farm by Joanne Ramos. Told from the perspective of four women, The Farm explores gender, race, and class, and of who has access to power, freedom, and choice. This event is free and open to the public. This event will have ASL interpretation. Doors open at 1 p.m. Author Keynote begins at

Little Village Presents: Roast of Iowa City

ReUnion Brewery 113 E College St, Iowa City

  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.

Anna Karenina starring Greta Garbo, Basil Rathbone, and Fredric March

FilmScene at The Chauncey 404 E College St, Iowa City, IA

This 19th-century period piece is an adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's classic novel. On a trip to St. Petersburg, Anna Karenina (Greta Garbo), neglected wife of the famed Alexei Alexandrovitch Karenin (Basil Rathbone), meets a handsome military officer, Count Vronsky (Fredric March). Vronsky becomes enamored of Anna and follows her back to Moscow to confess his

Curator Guided Tour: Hey Buddy, I’m Bill

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

Hey Buddy, I’m Bill tells the story of Bill Sackter, the namesake of Wild Bill’s (formerly Wild Bill’s Coffee Shop) in the University of Iowa School of Social Work. From his early life in Minneapolis to his 44-year institutionalization for an intellectual disability to his years of friends and fame in Iowa City, the exhibit shares

Sarah Cypher: The Skin and Its Girl

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

A young, queer Palestinian American woman pieces together her great aunt's secrets in this sweeping debut, a family saga confronting questions of sexual identity, exile, and lineage. In a Pacific Northwest hospital far from the Rummani family's ancestral home in Palestine, the heart of a stillborn baby begins to beat and her skin turns a

The Machine Stops: A New Opera by John Lake and Cecile Goding

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

The Machine Stops: A New Opera by John Lake and Cecile Goding Selected Videoclips and Talkback Opera fan and UI Professor Emerita Miriam Gilbert leads a talkback session on The Machine Stops: A New Opera by John Lake and Cecile Goding, joined by the opera’s lead soprano Élise DesChamps (UI School of Music) and sci-fi