Marathon Public Reading of Shakespeare’s Sonnets

Pedmall Weatherdance Fountain Stage College St., Iowa City, IA

April is Shakespeare’s birthday month (not to mention National Poetry Month), and Riverside Theatre and the City of Literature will celebrate by highlighting literary masterpieces rarely explored on stage: the Bard’s 154-poem sonnet cycle. This public reading will take place on the Ped Mall's Weatherdance Fountain Stage on Tuesday, April 23 from 1:00-4:00pm. We welcome

Spring 2024 Simon & Schuster AuthorFest

A Virtual Event

  Join TJ Alexander, Kaliane Bradley, & Jackie Lau in conversation with Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings, the duo behind the romance power-house Christina Lauren. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24th At 7PM ET/ 6 PM CT / 4 PM PT VIA ZOOM From fake relationships to star-crossed time travelers to queer throuples, these authors are not your

SlamoVision Slam

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

SlamoVision is a project of the international UNESCO Cities of Literature. Slam poets in some of the 53 Cities of Literature around the world will compete in their home cities. One poet from each participating city will move on to an international competition to be judged by fans from the other cities. At the end

It Can’t Happen Here – A Staged Reading

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

A cautionary dark satire about the fragility of democracy and how fascism can take hold even in the land of liberty, It Can't Happen Here follows the ascent of a demagogue who becomes president of the United States by promising to return the country to greatness. Witnessing the new president’s tyranny from the sidelines is

Stuart Dybek

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

Stuart Dybek is the author of five books of fiction--Ecstatic Cahoots, Paper Lantern, I Sailed with Magellan, The Coast of Chicago, and Childhood and Other Neighborhoods–as well as two collections of poetry, Brass Knuckles and Streets in Their Own Ink. Dybek is the recipient of many prizes and awards, including the PEN/Malamud Award, an Arts and Letters Award from the American Academy of

Resilient Voices: A Multimedia Exhibition Celebrating Youth Empowerment, Global Perspectives, and the Legacy of Anne Frank

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

A comprehensive initiative composed of several integrated elements that features a Digital Diaries Exhibit that showcases the firsthand experiences of youth across the globe, focusing on themes of war, struggle, and resilience across time. The digital diaries exhibit, inspired by Anne Frank’s iconic, red-checked diary, showcases narratives from young individuals around the world and across

Anna Barker: From Peter the Great to Napoleon the Lesser: Dostoevsky and the Great Men of History

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

Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Notes from Underground (1864), his first consequential post-Siberian imprisonment publication, explores the tragicomedy of humanity’s entrapment in the confines soul-sapping modernity and serves as the foundation of the existential and metaphysical concepts he addresses in the Great Five: Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, Demons, The Adolescent, and Brothers Karamazov. In commemoration of the

Bruna Dantas Lobato – Blue Light Hours

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

BRUNA DANTAS LOBATO is a writer and translator. Her fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, Guernica, A Public Space, and The Common. She was awarded the 2023 National Book Award in Translation for The Words That Remain by Stênio Gardel. Dantas Lobato was born and raised in Natal, Brazil, and lives in St. Louis, Missouri. Blue Light Hours is her debut novel.

Film Screening: Taxi Driver with Notes from Underground

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

This screening is part of a larger program that celebrates the 160th anniversary of the publication of Fyodor Dostoevsky's "Notes from Underground." Martin Scorsese's 1976 film is the novel’s most famous US adaptation. University of Iowa Adjunct Assistant Professor Anna Barker will lead a post-screening discussion immediately following, where she will discuss the way the film explores

Literary Legends: Tracy Kidder in conversation with Stuart Dybek

Iowa Memorial Union 125 N Madison St, Iowa City, IA

Sit in on a one-of-a-kind evening with writer and Iowa graduate Tracy Kidder, “a master of the nonfiction narrative” (Baltimore Sun), as he reflects on his lengthy literary career and reads from some of his bestselling work. Register here: https://foriowa.info/3yN03tD The event will feature a conversation about the power of long-form investigative writing between Kidder and

Austin Allen Hamblin and John Ira Thomas – Big Guns Stupid Rednecks

Daydreams Comics 229 E Washington St, Iowa City, IA

Yeehaw! Join us at Daydreams Comics, where Austin Allen Hamblin and John Ira Thomas, 2/3 of the creative team behind indie comics sensation Big Guns Stupid Rednecks, will be on hand! Take a break from fish’n and mud’n and come enjoy some old fashion comic book fun!

Iowa Bibliophiles – Guest Author Megan Rosenbloom

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

Iowa Bibliophiles is a group for book lovers and enthusiasts of all kinds hosted by the University of Iowa Libraries' Special Collections and Archives. All are welcome at this special event. Hear a talk by special guest Megan Rosenbloom, author of Dark Archives: A Librarian’s Investigation into the Science and History of Books Bound in Human Skin.