Iowa City UNESCO City of Literature

Little Village Presents: Roast of Iowa City
2023-10-08 18:00 (America/Chicago) | ReUnion Brewery, 113 E College St, Iowa City, 52240, United States
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.

One Community One Book: The Farm by Joanne Ramos
2023-10-08 13:30 | C20 Pomerantz Center, 213 N Clinton St, Iowa City, 52242, United States
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 1:30 p.m. Author book signing immediately following the lecture.

Author and City of Literature esteemed City of Literature board member, Lyz Lenz, has launched a virtual book club to discuss “The Farm” by Joanne Ramos. Join the discussion at: Men Yell at Me Book Club.

SlamoVision Poetry Competition
2023-10-02 18:30 - 20:30 | PS1 Close House, 538 S Gilbert St, Iowa City, IA, 52240, United States
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 participating city will move on to an international competition to be judged by fans from the other cities. At the end of the process, one poet will be named the SlamoVision champion for 2023. This is the fifth year for the international competition.
The Iowa City UNESCO City of Literature and Iowa City Poetry will co-host Iowa City’s slam poetry event at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 2, at the Public Space One location at the Close House, 538 S. Gilbert St. Poets from across Iowa may participate. Sign-up begins at 6:30 p.m.; the slam begins at 7 p.m. Each poet has three-and-a-half minutes to perform. At the completion of three rounds, the winning poet will be chosen to represent Iowa City in the international competition.
Twelve Cities of Literature are participating in Slamovision 2023: Dublin (Ireland), Exeter (UK), Iowa City (US), Kuhmo (Finland), Ljubljana (Slovenia), Manchester (UK), Melbourne (Australia), Nottingham (UK) Québec City (Canada), Reykjavik (Iceland), Tartu (Estonia), and Vilnius (Lithuania).
A video of the winning poet from the Oct. 2 event will be entered into the international contest. Audiences in each participating City of Literature will gather to watch and score the dozen video. The Iowa City watch event will be held as part of the Mic Check Poetry Fest, Nov. 3-4. The scores from all of the cities will be tabulated and an international SlamoVision poet will be crowned during an online event on Dec. 5 hosted by the Nottingham City of Literature in England.
Check out the 2022 and 2021 winners:
Strong Tea by Abíọ́dún ‘Abbey’ Abdul
Island Screams by Cara Thompson
To learn more and see all previous Slamovision Contestants, please visit:
https://cityofliterature.com.au/slam-o-vision/

Family Concert
2023-06-24 10:30 | Iowa City Public Library, 123 S. Linn St., Iowa City, IA, 52240, United States
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.

Anonymous Was a Woman (ticketed event)
2023-06-23 19:30 | 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, 52240
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, Virginia Woolf, and composer Dame Ethel Smyth – the first female composer to be granted a damehood. The program will begin with Smyth’s Violin Sonata in A minor (Op. 7), written in 1887. Though the classical music canon has historically relegated her to a footnote, Smyth is enjoying some long overdue recognition, both for her distinctive musical voice and larger than life personality. Ahead of her time, Smyth was a suffragette and defiantly out about her sexuality and relationships with women.
Following Smyth’s Sonata, audiences will be treated to a semi-staged version of Dominick Argento’s song cycle From the Diary of Virginia Woolf, which won the 1975 Pulitzer Prize for Music, the same year in which it was premiered in Minneapolis. Smyth and Woolf would meet near the end of their lives and continue a fruitful intellectual and artistic relationship, lasting until Woolf’s suicide in 1941. By pairing Smyth’s music and Woolf’s private words, we can begin to allow the deeply personal etchings of these two women to fully come to the forefront, in a way they were unable to during their lives.
Before the concert, music scholar, author, and University of Iowa Professor Marian Wilson Kimber will give a pre-concert lecture exploring the development of works by women artists and the barriers they faced. General admission tickets to the Friday, June 23, concert are $20; $10 for students. They are available at the Riverside Theatre box office, by calling (319) 259-7099, or emailing boxoffice@riversidetheatre.org.

Centering Women’s Perspectives
2023-06-22 19:30 | Trinity Episcopal Church, 320 E. College St, Iowa City, IA, United States
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 include Caroline Shaw, Hawa Kassé Mady Diabaté, Jessie Montgomery, Aftab Darvishi, Reena Esmail, and MusicIC’s own Tricia Park. This concert will be presented at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, June 22, at Trinity Episcopal Church (320 E College Street), and is free and open to the public.

Caroline Shaw and Marilynne Robinson, In Conversation
2023-06-21 19:00 | Iowa City Public Library, 123 S. Linn St., Iowa City, IA, 52240, United States
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 mimic Robinson’s writing. Segments of the string quartet will be performed live, in tandem with the conversation. Three Essays was a 2023 Grammy Award-winner, as part of the Attacca Quartet’s album Evergreen, which won Best Chamber Music / Small Ensemble Performance. The conversation will be free and open to the public and will be presented in Meeting Room A at the Iowa City Public Library (123 S. Linn St.).

Paul Engle Glory of the Senses High School Essay Contest Deadline to Submit
2023-06-02 | IA
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 to be the best receives one year of free tuition to the University of Iowa. A select number of runners up receive a $500 scholarship from the Iowa City UNESCO City of Literature.
The contest is based on Engle’s writings, particularly his memoir, A Lucky American Childhood.
The deadline for submissions for the 2023 contest is June 2. To view details about this year’s contest and how to submit, click here.

Jr. High Writing Jam! Featuring the IYWP and author Mike Meginnis
2023-02-25 12:00 - 14:00 | Poindexter Coffee, 210 S Dubuque St., Iowa City, IA, 52240, United States
All 7th and 8th graders who like to write are invited. Come together with other writers to compare ideas and be inspired to write something new. Instructors from the Iowa Youth Writing Project will moderate this awesome event. Open mic, and amazing door prizes. FREE!
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Mike Meginnis is the author of Drowning Practice (2022, Ecco) and Fat Man and Little Boy (2014, Black Balloon). His short fiction and essays have appeared in Hobart, PANK, The Lifted Brow, Recommended Reading, Booth, The Pinch, The Collagist, The Sycamore Review, Fanzine, American Book Review, and Writer’s Digest. His story “Navigators” appeared in Best American Short Stories 2012. He lives and works in Iowa City.

Can I Play Too by Mo Willems performed by Ella and Lisee Field, Independently Registered Girl Scouts of Muscatine County Service Unit 836
2023-02-25 11:30 - 12:00 | FilmScene at The Chauncey, 404 E College St, Iowa City, IA, 52240, United States
Join Ella Field (Brownie) and Lisee Field (Daisy) as they present Can I Play Too? by Mo Willems (with some support from their scoutleaders).

Author and Illustrator Michelle Edwards
2023-02-25 10:30 - 11:30 | FilmScene at The Chauncey, 404 E College St, Iowa City, IA, 52240, United States
Michelle Edwards is the author and illustrator of many books for children, one book for adults, and nearly one hundred essays and cards for knitters. In her spare time, she enjoys talking about her books, writing, illustrating, and on occasion, knitting, in schools and community venues throughout the US and beyond.

Michelle will join us to talk about her latest book, Me and the Boss: A Story About Mending and Love.
CORETTA SCOTT KING ILLUSTRATOR HONOR AWARD WINNER
CHARLOTTE ZOLOTOW AWARD WINNER

Book Fair
2023-02-25 10:00 - 15:00 | FilmScene at The Chauncey, 404 E College St, Iowa City, IA, 52240, United States
At FilmScene at The Chauncey
Join us for a celebration of children’s literature and writing! Books, author readings, writing workshops, film screenings, crafts, costume characters, and more!
Featured Guests: Iowa City Public Library, Coralville Public Library, Iowa Youth Writing Project, North Liberty Library, PaperPie, Scattergood Friends School, Sidekick Coffee & Books, Sylvan Learning Center of Coralville, The Book End, The Iowa Children’s Museum, Willowwind School, and more!

Interested in reserving a space for your school or organization? One Book Two Book is a great opportunity to meet families and showcase your programs and services. Email info@iowacityofliterature.org for more information.

The Big Bad Fox and Other Tales
2023-02-25 10:00 - 12:00 | FilmScene at The Chauncey, 404 E College St, Iowa City, IA, 52240, United States
Free screenings from 10 a.m. – noon.
The countryside isn’t always as calm and peaceful as it’s made out to be, and the animals on this farm are particularly agitated: a fox who mothers a family of chicks, a rabbit who plays the stork, and a duck who wants to be Santa Claus. If you think life in the country is a walk in the park, think again! Directors Benjamin Renner and Patrick Imbert adapt Renner’s own acclaimed graphic novel into a delirious, delightful triptych of interlocking stories, with a pacing and visual spontaneity that harkens back to classic Looney Tunes shorts and slapstick two-reelers. But underneath the gags (and there are plenty of them), the three stories offer a sensitive and beautiful portrayal of family, and the anxieties of modern life.
“Ideal viewing for young children.” – Chicago Reader
“A delightful animated anthology which brings three laugh out loud stories to the big screen with wit and grace.” – HeyUGuys
“Appropriate for ages 5+.” – Common Sense Media

One Book Two Book Pre-Party at Sidekick Coffee & Books
2023-01-14 10:00 - 11:00 | Sidekick Coffee & Books, 1310 1/2 Melrose Avenue, Iowa City, IA, 52242, United States
Join Sidekick and the City of Literature for a One Book Two Book pre-party, Saturday, January 14, 10:00 – 11:00 a.m. Get your picture taken with Clifford the Big Red Dog and visit with local authors Jennifer Black Reinhardt, Michelle Edwards, Norene Paulson, and Tess Weaver!

HUGE thank you to Sidekick for graciously donating 10% of bookstore sales to our One Book Two Book Children’s Literature Festival!

Sidekick Coffee & Books: SANTA AT SIDEKICK
2022-12-03 13:00 - 15:00 | Sidekick Coffee & Books, 1310 1/2 Melrose Avenue, Iowa City, IA, 52242, United States
Visit Santa at Sidekick! Santa will be available from 1pm-3pm. Please feel free to take your own photos!

Storytime at the Stanley
2022-11-19 10:30 | Univ. of Iowa Stanley Museum of Art, 160 W Burlington St, Iowa City, 52242, United States
Join Iowa City Public Library children’s librarians at the University of Iowa’s new Stanley Museum of Art for a very special storytime!
We’ll start with stories in the museum lobby from 10:30 to about 11 a.m. Enjoy listening to picture books celebrating the power of art and learn about artists who are part of the Stanley’s inaugural exhibition! Along with these read-alouds will be creative movement activities like rhymes, songs, and fingerplays.
After storytime, try a scavenger hunt through the museum and see world-class works of art up close. Get a set of colored pencils for finishing the hunt! Docents will be stationed throughout the galleries to help with the hunt and answer questions about the art. Browse the galleries as long as you like!
All are welcome, but this storytime may be best suited for preschoolers and up.
The Stanley Museum of Art is located at 160 W. Burlington Street in Iowa City. Admission is free.

RAINBOW ROWELL
2022-11-13 14:00 | Prairie Lights Books, 15 S. Dubuque St., Iowa City, IA, 52240, United States
Join Prairie Lights Books for a reading and signing with New York Times bestselling author Rainbow Rowell! Seating is limited, so if you pre-pay a pre-order a copy of her new book, Scattered Showers, we will be happy to save you a seat!
Rowell’s new book, Scattered Showers (YA ages 14- 17), contains nine beautifully crafted love stories. Girl meets boy camping outside a movie theater. Best friends debate the merits of high school dances. A prince romances a troll. A girl romances an imaginary boy. And Simon Snow himself returns for a holiday adventure. It’s a feast of irresistible characters, hilarious dialogue, and masterful storytelling—in short, everything you’d expect from a Rainbow Rowell book!
Rainbow Rowell lives in Omaha, Nebraska, with her family. She’s the author of Eleanor & Park, Fangirl, Attachments, Landline, Pumpkinheads, and the Simon Snow trilogy.
Please place pre-orders prior to Nov 11th. Books can be ordered here, or you may call (319)337-2681(during store hours). Rowell will be happy to sign one book from home with any purchased for/at the event from Prairie Lights.
Masks required!

Give the Gift of Signed Books with Chloe Angyal
2022-11-13 12:00 | Sidekick Coffee & Books, 1310 1/2 Melrose Avenue, Iowa City, IA, 52242, United States
Give the Gift of Signed Books this holiday season! Sidekick is delighted to host several authors as part of our new holiday tradition-giving signed books! We always offer complimentary gift wrapping! Chloe Angyal will be at Sidekick to sign on Sunday, November 13th from 2pm-3pm.

Slam O Vision International
2022-11-12 20:00 | MERGE, 136 S Dubuque St, Iowa City, IA, 52240, United States
Registration not required: This is a free event! Walk-ins welcome.

The spoken word version of Eurovision, hosted by the UNESCO Cities of Literature and their partners — where each City slams their way to the grand title of SlamOvision Champion!
The Slam O Vision event is a project of the international UNESCO Cities of Literature. Slam poets in 11 Cities of Literature compete to be named the Slam O Vision champion.
Iowa City poets and poetry lovers join us to watch and rank the 11 poets. The same will happen in the other participating Cities of Literature. The scores will be tabulated and an international Slam O Vision poet will be crowned.
Participants from Bucheon, South Korea; Edinburgh, Scotland; Iowa City; Heidelberg, Germany; Melbourne, Australia; Nottingham, England; Quebec City, Canada; Reykjavik, Iceland; Seattle, Tartu, Estonia; and Utrecht, the Netherlands will take part by video.

Mic Check Poetry Fest 2022: Ebony Stewart and Patricia Smith
2022-11-11 - 2022-11-12 | Englert Theatre, 221 E. Washington St., Iowa City, IA, 52240, United States
Two powerful poets and performers lead workshops on Saturday afternoon, then perform live at The Englert Theatre Saturday night. All events available in-person and online at this hybrid festival.

AN EVENING WITH ANNE LAMOTT
2022-11-10 19:30 | Englert Theatre, 221 E. Washington St., Iowa City, IA, 52240, United States
Co-Presented by: True Endeavors & Prairie Lights Books
Anne Lamott writes and speaks about subjects that begin with capital letters: Alcoholism, Motherhood, Jesus. But armed with self-effacing humor – she is laugh-out-loud funny – and ruthless honesty, Lamott converts her subjects into enchantment. Actually, she writes about what most of us don’t like to think about. She wrote her first novel for her father, the writer Kenneth Lamott, when he was diagnosed with brain cancer. She has said that the book was “a present to someone I loved who was going to die.” In all her novels, she writes about loss – loss of loved ones and loss of personal control. She doesn’t try to sugar-coat the sadness, frustration and disappointment, but tells her stories with honesty, compassion and a pureness of voice. As she says, “I have a lot of hope and a lot of faith and I struggle to communicate that.” Anne Lamott does communicate her faith; in her books and in person, she lifts, comforts, and inspires, all the while keeping us laughing.

Anne Lamott is the author of seven novels, Hard Laughter, Rosie, Joe Jones, Blue Shoe, All New People, Crooked Little Heart, and Imperfect Birds. She has also written several bestselling books of nonfiction, including, Operating Instructions, an account of life as a single mother during her son’s first year; Some Assembly Required: A Journal of My Son’s First Son; and the classic book on writing; Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. She has also authored several collections of autobiographical essays on faith; Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith, Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith, and Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith. In addition, she has written, Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers, Stitches; A Handbook on Meaning, Hope and Repair, Small Victories: Spotting Improbable Moments of Grace, Hallelujah Anyway; Rediscovering Mercy and Almost Everything: Notes on Hope. Her most recent book is Dusk, Night, Dawn: On Revival and Courage.

Lamott has been honored with a Guggenheim Fellowship, and has taught at UC Davis, as well as at writing conferences across the country. Academy Award-winning filmmaker Freida Mock has made a documentary on Lamott, entitled “Bird by Bird with Annie” (1999). Anne Lamott has also been inducted into the California Hall of Fame.

LAUREN HALDEMAN AND KAVEH AKBAR
2022-11-09 19:00 | Prairie Lights Books, 15 S. Dubuque St., Iowa City, IA, 52240, United States
Please join with Lauren Haldeman who will talk about and show images from her book Team Photograph. She will be joined in conversation by Kaveh Akbar. In her extraordinary graphic novel–which masterfully incorporates poetry and elements of memoir–Lauren Haldeman layers the warfare of soccer over the battlefields now called Bull Run Regional Park, where, growing up, her soccer team would practice and compete. The narrator turns to poetry and history to make sense of the town and its bloodshed, of its forever attachment to injustice and its inability to restore erased identities.
Lauren Haldeman is the author of the graphic novel Team Photograph, and the collections Instead of Dying (winner of the 2017 Colorado Prize for Poetry), Calenday, and The Eccentricity is Zero. Her work has appeared in Poetry, Tin House, The Colorado Review, The Iowa Review, Fence and others. A graphic novelist and poet, she’s received an Iowa Arts Fellowship, a Sustainable Arts Foundation Award and visiting fellowships from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, Carnegie Mellon University, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, and University of Cape Town.
Kaveh Akbar is the author of the poetry collections: Pilgrim Bell and Calling a Wolf a Wolf, the chapbook Portrait of the Alcoholic, and he is the editor of The Penguin Book of Spiritual Verse: 100 Poets on the Divine. In 2020 Kaveh was named Poetry Editor of The Nation. His honors include multiple Pushcart Prizes, a Civitella Ranieri Foundation Fellowship, and the Levis Reading Prize. He teaches at the University of Iowa and in the low-residency MFA programs at Randolph College and Warren Wilson.

Love, Light, & Lit: National Children’s Book Week
2022-11-07 12:00 | North Liberty Library, 520 W. Cherry Street, North Liberty, 52317, United States
National Children’s Book Week is BACK! North Liberty Library kicking off the month of November by spotlighting the best holiday picture books!

NaNoWriMo Community Writing Center
2022-11-04 18:00 - 19:00 | Iowa City Public Library, 123 S. Linn St., Iowa City, IA, 52240, United States
Celebrate NaNoWriMo Community Writing Center at Iowa City Public Library

Prairie Lights: International Writing Program Sunday Reading Series
2022-10-23 16:00, 2022-10-16 16:00 | Prairie Lights Books, 15 S. Dubuque St., Iowa City, IA, 52240, United States
Hear some of this years’ International Writing Program residents read from their work. Readers TBA.

Prairie Lights: Margo Price
2022-10-22 14:00 | Prairie Lights Books, 15 S. Dubuque St., Iowa City, IA, 52240, United States
Country singer Margo Price will read from and talk about her new memoir, Maybe We’ll Make It.

Prairie Lights: Rebecca Rukeyser in conversation with Rachel Yoder
2022-10-17 19:00 | Prairie Lights Books, 15 S. Dubuque St., Iowa City, IA, 52240, United States
A reading and conversation with Rebecca Rukeyser in celebration of the release of her book The Seaplane on Final Approach. She will be joined in conversation by Rachel Yoder.

Prairie Lights: All Iowa Reads: Rachel Mans McKenny
2022-10-14 19:00 | Prairie Lights Books, 15 S. Dubuque St., Iowa City, IA, 52240, United States
Established in 2003, the purpose of All Iowa Reads is to foster a sense of unity through reading. Iowans are encouraged to come together in their communities to read and talk about a single book title in the same calendar year. The 2022 All Reads selection is Rachel Mans McKenny‘s The Butterfly Effect.

ICON: 47 The Prime Universe
2022-10-14 - 2022-10-16 | Cedar Rapids Marriott, 1200 Collins Rd NE, Cedar Rapids, IA, 52402, United States
ICON is an annual science fiction convention held in the Cedar Rapids/ Iowa City area of Iowa since 1975, usually in late October or early November, under the auspices of the Mindbridge Foundation, a not-for-profit foundation also responsible for AnimeIowa and Gamicon. The organization was a branching off of the Science Fiction League of Iowa Students, which was founded by author Joe Haldeman. It is the oldest science fiction convention in Iowa. https://iowa-icon.com/
