Weaving intimate portraits of home with what could be the travel journals of a 21st-century troubadour, Tracie Morris’s human/nature poems is a hymn to the human and more-than-human world. These poems bear the record of a state of heightened perception, springing from the displacements of travel and returning, of memory and its triggers, of global

Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak is University Professor at Columbia University.  Her first job was at Iowa (1965-77), where she went through the ranks, and profited greatly by the absolute support of colleagues among whom she would mention President Sandy Boyd, Vice President May Brodbeck, Chairs John Gerber and David Hayman, and many many others. She met

Author Dr. Chris Jones (The Swine Republic) is joined by journalists Keith Schneider and Erin Jordan to examine Iowa and the Midwest's efforts at water quality, public information, and the modern myth of the "farmer."    

A person’s body affects the way they navigate the world, and their experiences in it. How much power does a body (with regard to, for instance, race, gender, sexuality, physical ability) have over, or in, an artist’s work? And, with what devices can a writer affect issues their body can present-- for instance via symbolism,

Presented in collaboration with the Iowa Writers' Workshop, University Lecture Committee, Iowa City Book Festival, and Refocus Film Festival Part of Hancher's Infinite Dream festival John Irving is one of the foremost writers of the 20th and 21st centuries. He is the author of several books, including the novels The Cider House Rules, The World According to Garp, and most recently The Last Chairlift. He

Involving the Japanese poet YOTSUMOTO Yasuhiro (IWP 2023), the Akutagawa Prize-winning writer LI Kotomi (IWP 2023), the Japanese poet SUGA Keijiro, UI students from JPNS 3201 Workshop in Japanese Literary Translation; International Writing Program writers from Japan, Taiwan, Jamaica, Nigeria, and Kazakhstan; 10 young Japanese poets and several dozen Japanese undergraduates who will connect to

Josh Larsen is the co-host of the radio show and podcast Filmspotting and author of Movies Are Prayers. He will discuss his new book, Fear Not! A Christian Appreciation of Horror Movies. Presented in partnership with the ReFocus Film Festival.

Justin Torres is the author of We the Animals, which won the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award, was translated into fifteen languages, and was adapted into a feature film. A graduate of the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop, he will read from and discuss his new book, Blackouts. Fellow Workshop graduate Jamel Brinkley will moderate.

Daniel Kraus is a New York Times bestselling author. His collaboration with legendary filmmaker George A. Romero, The Living Dead, was acclaimed by The New York Times and The Washington Post. The Iowa native will discuss his new novel, Whalefall. 

Note: Kurt Vile will no longer be a part of this event. We are excited to present instead a conversation between Lonnie Holley, a renowned visual artist and musician, and musician and writer Lee Baines. Holley's most recent album Oh Me Oh My reflects on his difficult personal experiences growing up in the Alabama Industrial

Kristen Roupenian holds a PhD in English from Harvard, an MFA from the Helen Zell Writers’ Program at the University of Michigan, and a BA from Barnard College. She is the author of the short story, “Cat Person,” which was published in The New Yorker. She will read from her short story collection, Cat Person.