Enjoy conversation, connection, and community over light snacks and wine. A collaboration with the International Writing Program, the International Lights Salon provides a space for visiting International writers, local artists, university students, and community members to engage in dialogue. September 5th's topic will revolve around queer aesthetics in writing and creating queer writing communities. The

University of Iowa PhD graduate Chris Vinsonhaler will read from her translation of Beowulf: An Epic Enigma. Descibred as a "radical reappraisal of the Old English epic" (beowulf.live), Beowulf: An Epic Enigma (Book I) is praised by Robert E. Bjork, Editor of Klaeber’s Beowulf  and A Beowulf Handbook as "a riddling maze never seen before, a murder mystery of smoke and mirrors

University of Iowa Literary Translation MFA candidate Tabatha Leggett will read from her translation of Riikka Pulkkinen's novel, Enchantment, and will be joined in conversation with Jan Steyn. Described as "a spellbinding literary mystery that explores the uneasy terrain of girlhood, where one is always being watched, shaped, and judged by others" (scribepublications.com), Enchantment is praised by Shelf Awareness as

Patricia Albers will read from her new biography, Everything Is Photograph: A Life of André Kertész, and will be joined in conversation with Garth Greenwell. Described as "The first full biography of the innovative 'father of modern photography' vividly depicts his life and works, from Hungary to France and America, across the 20th century," Everything Is Photograph is

Iowa graduate Lizzie Buehler will read from her debut novel, The Obsessed, and will be joined in conversation by Julia Conrad. Described as "A bighearted portrait of the anxieties of desire explores the trials of modern dating, the strange ennui of academia, and the question of how to create a world for yourself within and without

Sara Levine will read from her new novel, The Hitch. Describes as "a delightfully unhinged comedy following a woman as she attempts to exorcise the spirit of a dead corgi from her nephew and renegotiate the borders of her previously rational world" (sara-levine.com), The Hitch is praised by bestselling author Elizabeth Gilbert as "one of the most wildly