Our Friends at the University and Beyond
The Department of English
The Department of English
Since 1861, the Department of English has promoted a rich tradition of reading, writing, and critical thinking. Over the past century, English faculty and alumni include distinguished creative writers, as well as prominent literary critics and scholars who have helped found movements such as New Criticism, feminist literary studies, postcolonial theory, African American literary and cultural studies, and poststructuralist theory.
The University of Iowa Press
The University of Iowa Press
Established in 1969, the University of Iowa Press is a well-regarded academic publisher serving scholars, students, and readers throughout the world with works of poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. As the only university press in the state, Iowa is also dedicated to preserving the literature, history, culture, wildlife, and natural areas of the Midwest.
The Iowa Review
The Iowa Review
The Iowa Review's mission is to provide an expertly curated, carefully edited, and beautifully designed print and online space for the voices of writers of every kind of diversity to move and enlighten us; to use the experience gained from fifty-plus years of continuous publication and our connection to the University of Iowa as a home for creative writing to validate, amplify, and encourage those voices; and to serve the reading public by presenting the best contemporary writing in short fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction.
The Nonfiction Writing Program
The Nonfiction Writing Program
The Nonfiction Writing Program is one of the oldest—and boldest—nonfiction programs in the nation, located in America's most cherished literary city. For the past forty years, the Nonfiction Writing Program has encouraged students to explore new approaches to creative nonfiction while also developing an appreciation for the deep history of the genre.
The International Writing Program
The International Writing Program
The International Writing Program (IWP) is a unique conduit for the world’s literatures, connecting well-established writers from around the globe, bringing international literature into classrooms, introducing American writers to other cultures through reading tours, and serving as a clearinghouse for literary news and a wealth of archival and pedagogical materials. Since 1967, over 1,600 writers from more than 160 countries have been in residence at the University of Iowa.
The MFA in Literary Translation
The MFA in Literary Translation
2024 marks the 40th anniversary of the MFA in Literary Translation, which was founded by Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak and Daniel Weissbort. Consistent with their legacy, the MFA program in Literary Translation still combines creative practice, international literature in-the-making, with training in comparative literature, world languages & literatures, and craft scholarship and theory.
The Playwrights Workshop
The Playwrights Workshop
The Iowa Playwrights Workshop—the University of Iowa's MFA Program in Playwriting—is an intensive three-year program dedicated to educating playwrights for the professional theatre. We train talented playwrights and collaborative theatre artists who will lead the American theatre in the creation of new works and the training of future generations of playwrights.
The Spanish Creative Writing MFA
The Spanish Creative Writing MFA
Created in 2012 by the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, the M.F.A. in Creative Writing in Spanish has benefited from a large number of excellent writers who have found success publishing books written while they were students in the program. Our students participate in editing Iowa Literaria, the University’s magazine of literature in Spanish.
The Center for the Book
The Center for the Book
The Center for the Book is an innovative arts and research program dedicated to the past, present, and future of the book. The Center pursues a distinctive mission, integrating practice in the art of the book with a study of the book in society. We offer curricula in the arts of printing, binding, papermaking, and calligraphy, in the history and culture of books as a field of study, and in the expressive power of the book form. The Center also supports an active program of visiting lectures and workshops with renowned book scholars and artists.
Stanley Museum of Art
The University of Iowa Stanley Museum of Art welcomes the University of Iowa community, all Iowans, and the world to discover and enjoy extraordinary works of art, explore new ideas, and cultivate new insights into history, culture, and the act of creation. We create diverse communities around our collections by fostering creative connections across the university, the state, and the world. Through the wise stewardship and dynamic presentation of the collections in our care, the Stanley Museum encourages transformative encounters with works of art and contemplation of the human story.
The Summer Writing Festival
Since 1987, the Iowa Summer Writing Festival has welcomed to The University of Iowa writers from 18 to 98 years of age, from all 50 states, and from every continent. Most of us come to the workshop table from other areas of expertise, other lives. These include the armed forces, business, diplomacy, education, farming, homemaking, journalism, law, law enforcement, medicine, parenting, pastoral care, the performing arts, social services, and more. We come together across the genres, the generations, and at every level of literary practice in a common enterprise. We come as writers. This is the only assumption we make about each other, whether we arrive with the third draft of our novel, a message in a bottle, or merely a bee in our bonnet.
The Iowa Young Writers' Studio
The Iowa Young Writers' Studio is a creative writing program for high school students at the University of Iowa, housed in the Magid Center for Writing. The Iowa Young Writers’ Studio offers a 2-week Summer Residential Program that runs in both in-person and online formats. The Iowa Young Writers' Studio also offers 6-week online courses every summer and winter. If you're curious about the difference between these two offerings you can read about them here.
Magid Center for Writing
The Magid Center for Writing takes seriously its mission to offer students at the University of Iowa the unique opportunity to enhance their academic, creative, and professional communication skills by focusing on the written word. In addition to sponsoring the Certificate in Writing, the Magid Center also oversees several student literary publications including Boundless, earthwords, Fools Magazine, Ink Lit Mag, the Iowa Chapbook Prize, and Wilder Things; supports the Iowa Writers Living-Learning Community (in association with UI Housing and Dining); and is home to the Iowa Youth Writing Project (a K-12 literacy outreach non-profit), the Iowa Young Writers' Studio (a selective summer camp for aspiring high school writers), and the Iowa Summer Writing Festival.
Hancher Auditorium
Hancher is a multidisciplinary performing arts presenter committed to connecting artists and audiences with transformational artistic experiences. Since 1972, Hancher has been the cultural hub of the University of Iowa campus—presenting world-class dance, music, and theater. Along the way, Hancher has extended its reach far beyond campus, engaging thousands of Iowans each year, on campus, throughout the community, and across the state. Hancher is one of the leading university presenters of the performing arts in the nation and has earned an international reputation for excellence.
Iowa City Book Festival
The Iowa City Book Festival is organized by the Iowa City UNESCO City of Literature, a nonprofit 501(c)3 that manages the Iowa City area’s designation as a UNESCO City of Literature. The City of Literature works to advance its mission of celebrating and supporting literature on a local, regional, national, and international level, connecting readers and writers through the power of story.