The Iowa City UNESCO City of Literature organization’s annual One Book Two Book Children’s Literature Festival will recognize the creative excellence of 28 area students as it offers a day of free, family-friendly programming that celebrates creativity and stories.
The festival begins on Saturday, Feb. 22, and includes free programming for kids and their families from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at FilmScene at the Chauncey and MERGE in downtown Iowa City. Events include author readings, sing-alongs, workshops, story times, a book fair, costume characters and more.
On Sunday, Feb. 23, student writers will be honored as part of the annual “Write Out Loud!” event, 1-2:30 p.m. in the auditorium in the University of Iowa’s Macbride Hall. The event is free and open to the public.
“One Book Two Book is one of our favorite events of the year,” said City of Literature Executive Director John Kenyon. “These two days of events celebrating writing for and by children are full of fun and energy.”
Saturday’s events include a day-long book and activity fair at FilmScene at the Chauncey that includes story times and singalongs, and a day with wooden trains at MERGE. Other highlights include:
–10 a.m. to noon: Free cartoon screening at FilmScene from 10 a.m. to noon
–10:30 a.m.: An author event with Raquel MacKay and her book, I Hear a Búho
–11 a.m.: A Visit with Owl Friends
–11:30 a.m.: Animal Poems with IC Speaks
–Noon and 2 p.m.: Book Character meet and greet with Little Critter, Zoom Squirrel, Clifford and Maisy
–Noon: Drop-in Illustration Workshop with Matt Laux at MERGE
A poetry workshop with Iowa City Poetry and the annual Jr. High Writing Jam with the Iowa Youth Writing Project also will be held. Visit www.onebooktwobook.org for information or to register.
These events are free and open to the public thanks to generous sponsors including Carolyn Brown and Jerry Zimmermann, McGrath Family of Dealerships, Greater Iowa City, Inc., ACT, and FilmScene.
The events also coincide with Free Week, a collaborative effort spearheaded by X Marks the Arts in downtown Iowa City that will feature dozens of free events in addition to One Book Two Book.
On Sunday, student writers from throughout the Iowa City-Cedar Rapids Corridor will be honored. Students were encouraged to submit one page of original writing. Those submissions were evaluated by a team at ACT in Iowa City. In each grade, first through eighth, winners were selected in two categories when a suitable submission was available. They are:
- The Write Stuff, which is judged based on language, clarity, structure, and emotional impact.
- From the Heart, judged based on creativity, passion, and expressiveness.
These winning students are:
A booklet with the winning submissions can be downloaded here.
In addition, the ACT team identified students in each grade whose writing was deemed worthy of honorable mention. These students also will be recognized as part of the Feb. 23 event.
