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

Live from Prairie Lights |  Uchenna Awoke in conversation with Reyumeh Ejue - "A Seige of Owls" promotional image

Live from Prairie Lights | Uchenna Awoke in conversation with Reyumeh Ejue - "A Seige of Owls"

Monday, May 11, 2026 7:00pm to 8:00pm
Prairie Lights Books
Uchenna Awoke will read from his new novel, A Siege of Owls, and will be joined in conversation with Iowa Writers' Workshop graduate, Reyumeh Ejue. Described as "An urgent and unforgettable work of magical realism following a young man coming of age in rural West Africa as he bears witness to the violence, upheaval, and hope in a rapidly changing society," A Siege of Owls is praised by The Malvern Observer as "a deeply human, urgent, and earnest story," while Chimezie Chika, author of Afrocritik, says: "A Siege of Owls is a masterpiece . . . If mythmaking—that is, mythmaking the becoming or unbecoming of our country—is Awoke’s goal in writing this novel, he immensely succeeds in mythologising the aggressive extremities of our times."
Write at the Stanley: A Generative Writing Workshop promotional image

Write at the Stanley: A Generative Writing Workshop

Sunday, May 24, 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...

Art & Write Night promotional image

Art & Write Night

Friday, June 5, 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...

Program News

Iowa alumni win 2026 Pulitzer Prizes for memoir, fiction

Wednesday, May 6, 2026
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

Suji Kwock Kim, Lucy Ives, & Bret Anthony Johnston, named 2026 Guggenheim Fellows

Tuesday, April 14, 2026
Guggenheim Fellows this year include three Workshop alumni: Suji Kwock Kim in Poetry, and Lucy Ives and Bret Anthony Johnston in Fiction.