MusicIC, Iowa City’s premiere chamber music festival exploring the connections between music and literature, presents THE BLACK ANGEL: Music, Myth, and Memory, a three-day festival examining how composers across centuries have engaged with themes of mortality, symbolism, and the unseen, while also drawing inspiration from Iowa City’s own Black Angel legend. Now entering its 16th season,
Iowa City UNESCO City of Literature & the Iowa City Public Library co-present: Page Against the Machine is a global reading event that encourages people of all ages and backgrounds to take a break from screens, pick up a book, and enjoy a well-deserved reading detox in a beautiful spot in their city. This annual event was
Hosted by Sidekick Coffee and Books Join Sidekick for an afternoon with Frances Mei Hardin, MD, as she reads from and signs her debut memoir, Surgeon on the Edge. Part reckoning, part reinvention, the book pulls back the curtain on medical training: the burnout, the unwritten rules, and what it means to reclaim your own
Iowa Writers' Workshop graduate Karen Parkman will read from her new novel, The Jills. Listed by both PEOPLE Magazine and CrimeReads as a "best book of February," The Jills is praised by Chloe Benjamin, New York Times bestselling author of The Immortalists, as "a nuanced, incisive exploration of the world of NFL cheerleading—and the complex power of sisterhood, both familial and chosen," while
Join the Porchlight Literary Arts Center on the deck of Market House for an evening of music, poetry, and prose. The Rooftoop Music & Reading Series brings together some of Iowa's most exciting artists for a one-of-a-kind collaborative program. Bring a buddy, date, or come alone. Stay for the gorgeous views, drinks and good company.
Susan McCarty will read from her new novel, 2008. The University of Chicago Press offers this summary of 2008: "It’s 2008: the age of the blog, the dawn of social media, and the birth of the smartphone. Obama is running for president on a slogan of hope, while in the shadows, an opioid crisis emerges, and the
Hosted by Sidekick Coffee and Books This fun-filled event highlights local authors and features several genres, from childrens to adult fiction and non-fiction. This event is a great way to support local authors and maybe even find a new favorite writer!
Will Swain will read from his new book, Certainly Uncertain: The Limitations of Knowledge and the Uncertainty of Belief. Renee Zukin, Educator, Entrepreneur, & Author of Every Day, I’m Brave, praises Certainly Uncertain as "down to earth and subtly radical," while Sean Strain, editor and former vice president of Entrepreneur Press, says: "The book was as thought-provoking and clever
Meg Richardson will read from her debut novel, Paradise Pawn, and will be joined in conversation with Iowa Writers' Workshop graduate and summer Writers' Workshop visiting lecturer, Claire Lombardo. Tin House/Zando describes Paradise Pawn as a "dazzling debut novel about best friends, adolescent longing, and the Florida pawn shop that promises to make their dreams come true—if it doesn’t
Sarah Minor will read from her new book Carousel: An Essay on Seeing, and will be joined in conversation with fellow Iowa Nonfiction Writing Program professor and award-winning author Melissa Febos. Yale University Press gives this description of Carousel : "Across short, immersive sections masterfully fusing the slide lecture and the lyric essay, Minor invites us to see
Join Prairie Lights Books for a special faculty reading of the inaugural "Authors at Large" Iowa City Rogue Workshops! (You can learn more about this program and the faculty here.) Xu Xi will read from her new collection of short stories, Horizon Hong Kong. Kelly Dwyer will read from her recent novel, Ghost Mother. Robin Hemley will
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
