For more than 80 years writers have come to Iowa City to work on their manuscripts and to exchange ideas about writing and reading with each other and with the faculty. Many of them have gone on to publish award-winning work after graduating. With the spirit of an arts colony and the benefits of the research University of which we are a part, the Writers' Workshop continues to foster and to celebrate American literature in all its varied forms.

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Upcoming Events

Live from Prairie Lights | Jeff Boyd in conversation with James F. Thomas - 'Hard Times' promotional image

Live from Prairie Lights | Jeff Boyd in conversation with James F. Thomas - 'Hard Times'

Monday, March 30, 2026 7:00pm
Prairie Lights Books

Iowa Writers' Workshop graduate Jeff Boyd will read from his new novel Hard Times and will be joined in conversation with University of Iowa Visiting Assistant Professor James F. Thomas. Described as "An extraordinary crime novel from a rising star, that follows the ripple effects of a tragic shooting throughout a Chicago community from the view of the teachers, police officers, and students impacted" (us.macmillan.com), Hard Times is praised by Xochitl Gonzalez, New York Times bestselling...

Live from Prairie Lights | Lauren Haldeman in conversation with Carmen Maria Machado - 'Wild That We're Alive'

Wednesday, April 1, 2026 7:00pm
Prairie Lights Books

Iowa Writers' Workshop graduate Lauren Haldeman will read from her new graphic novel, Wild That We're Alive, and will be joined in conversation by Carmen Maria Machado. Described as "beautiful diary comics" by Simon & Schuster, Wild That We're Alive follows Haldeman's own life as a self-described "'Momboy:' part responsible child-rearing adult and part lovable feral kid." Praised as a "Midwestern, sweatpants-wearing Roz Chast," Haldeman "...portrays herself and those around her with affectionate...

Stop/Time Festival promotional image

Stop/Time Festival

Friday, April 3 to Saturday, April 4, 2026 (all day)
Hancher Auditorium
Stop/Time Festival is a two-day, multi-venue, multi-artist spring festival produced by Hancher Auditorium and devoted to innovation and independence in contemporary music and the arts. This is a festival of discovery—opening our ears and minds to new sounds, ideas, and possibilities.
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Program News

Sad Me of the Past header with crumpled paper and paper airplane on black background with yellow geometric shapes - Iowa

Iowa Writers Revisit Their Origin Stories in Sad Me of the Past Podcast

Friday, October 17, 2025
Megan Magee
Iowa Magazine
Andrea Brady seated; her book, Poetry and Bondage: A History and Theory of Lyric Constraint, with colorful concentric circle artwork

Andrea Brady receives 2025 Truman Capote Award

Wednesday, October 8, 2025
The prestigious prize is the largest annual cash award for English-language literary criticism and will be awarded to poet and Professor of Poetry at Queen Mary University of London, Andrea Brady.
Covers of: The Wilderness by Angela Flournoy, Only Son by Kevin Moffet, The Pelican Child by Joy Williams, Things in Nature Only Grow by Yiyun Li

4 Iowa alums longlisted for National Book Award

Wednesday, September 17, 2025
Office of Strategic Communication
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