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.

Upcoming Events

Events

Live from Prairie Lights | Steven Duong & Tramaine Suubi promotional image

Live from Prairie Lights | Steven Duong & Tramaine Suubi

Friday, February 21, 2025 7:00pm
Prairie Lights Books
Writers’ Workshop graduates Steven Duong and Tramaine Suubi will read from their new poetry collections: At the End of the World There Is a Pond, and Phases. Steven Duong will read from At the End of the World There Is a Pond. “In poems striking, humorous, and assured, Steven Duong turns and turns the world over again until we are seen anew. . . . The velocity and music of this book will steady you far into your days.” —Major Jackson "Duong’s poetry is surprising and alive, expansive in its...
Write at the Stanley promotional image

Write at the Stanley

Sunday, February 23, 2025 2:30pm to 4:15pm
Stanley Museum of Art
Write at the Stanley: A Generative Writing Workshop is back for the Spring Semester! 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...

Live from Prairie Lights | Lewis Robinson & Aaron McCollough

Thursday, February 27, 2025 7:00pm
Prairie Lights Books
Writers’ Workshop alumni Lewis Robinson (Fiction) and Aaron McCollough (Poetry) will read from their latest books, The Islanders and Salms. Lewis Robinson will read from The Islanders. "The Islanders is at once an engrossing story and a timely, urgent warning: what will happen when the one percent decide to pull up the rope ladder behind them? Robinson’s vividly drawn protagonists are the ragtag kids conscripted into a billionaires’ militia training program. With sensory precision, penetrating...