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.

About the Writers' Workshop

How to Apply

Upcoming Events

Write at the Stanley: A Generative Writing Workshop promotional image

Write at the Stanley: A Generative Writing Workshop

Sunday, August 23, 2026 2:30pm to 4:15pm
Stanley Museum of Art

Join us monthly to generate new creative writing inspired by works in the Stanley collection. Each session will be led by a different talented writer from our area, who will be offering a new prompt and a new approach to ekphrastic writing (writing inspired by visual art). Bring your own notebook and pencil or computer and leave with the beginning of a newly written piece.

Co-sponsored by Iowa City Poetry. Teen and adult writers in all genres are welcome.

Write at the Stanley meets every fourth...

Live from Prairie Lights | Matthew Neill Null - 'Floodgate' promotional image

Live from Prairie Lights | Matthew Neill Null - 'Floodgate'

Wednesday, August 26, 2026 7:00pm
Prairie Lights Books
Workshop fiction faculty member, Matthew Neill Null will read from his new novel, 'Floodgate'

Porchlight Lit Arts Center | Rooftop Music & Reading Series : Jordan Sellergren, Elizabeth Willis, Mark Levine, Sarah Minor

Friday, August 28, 2026 7:00pm
Market House
Workshop fiction faculty members, Elizabeth Willis and Mark Levine, and Workshop grad Sarah Minor join Porchlight Lit Arts Center for an evening of music, poetry, and prose.
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Program News

Marilyn Monroe Photos Featured in New Book by Workshop Grad

Thursday, August 6, 2026
Emma Conway
Iowa Now

Iowa alumni win 2026 Pulitzer Prizes for memoir, fiction

Wednesday, May 6, 2026
Emily Nelson
Iowa Now
Yiyun Li (MFA '05) and Daniel Kraus take top honors; two other UI graduates were named finalists, including Scott Anderson (MFA 1993)

Hajar Hussaini winner of a 2026 Whiting Award in Poetry

Wednesday, April 15, 2026
Iowa Writers’ Workshop graduate Hajar Hussaini one of ten recipients of the 2026 Whiting Award, prestigious literary award for emerging writers
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