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

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Upcoming Events

Douglas Kearney: Reading promotional image

Douglas Kearney: Reading

Thursday, October 1, 2026 8:00pm
Glenn Schaeffer Library
Douglas Kearney visits the Writers' Workshop for a reading
Art & Write Night promotional image

Art & Write Night

Friday, October 2, 2026 6:00pm to 8:00pm
University of Iowa Museum of Natural History

Join the long, rich, historical tradition of artists creating in our spaces.

Professional, aspiring, and amateur artists alike, make our museum your muse. The return of this popular program series welcomes guests into the Museum of Natural History's magical gallery spaces after-hours to work on sketching or writing projects with other campus and community artists.

Tell a friend, grab a notebook, and join us on the first Friday of each month. We'll provide a new inspo prompt for each session and...

Live From Prairie Lights | IWP Sunday Afternoon Reading Series | Sang Young Park & Yaiza Berrocal Guevara, joined by Toye Oladinni & Danielle Wheeler

Sunday, October 4, 2026 4:00pm to 5:00pm
Prairie Lights Books
Please join us for our annual IWP Sunday Afternoon Reading Series! This week’s event features IWP Residents Sang Young Park & Yaiza Berrocal Guevara. They will be joined by Iowa Writers' Workshop Fiction candidate, Toye Oladinni, & Associate Director of Writing Education for the UI Office of Writing & Communication, Danielle Wheeler.
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Program News

Marilynne Robinson

Author Marilynne Robinson Looks Back on Her Iowa Influence

Tuesday, September 29, 2026
Josh O'Leary
Iowa Magazine
A headshot of University of Iowa visiting professor Tony Tulathimutte.

A writing life is not a ‘pipe dream’

Thursday, September 17, 2026
Sara Epstein Moninger
Iowa Now
Tony Tulathimutte went from an unhappy career in Silicon Valley to the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Now the acclaimed writer is helping University of Iowa students envision their own paths forward.
A headshot of Marilynne Robinson, the F. Wendell Miller Professor of English and Creative Writing at the University of Iowa.

Marilynne Robinson honored with Distinguished Alumni Award

Monday, August 31, 2026
Center for Advancement
A Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and one of the most influential figures in the history of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, Robinson shaped a generation of writers over her 25-year tenure as the F. Wendell Miller Professor of English and Creative Writing.
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