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.
Program News
Pop star Dua Lipa recommends UI professor Kaveh Akbar's book Martyr!
Thursday, September 17, 2026
Pop star Dua Lipa recommended UI professor Kaveh Akbar's book Martyr! as her September Monthly Read for her Service95 Book Club.
A writing life is not a ‘pipe dream’
Thursday, September 17, 2026
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.
Marilynne Robinson honored with Distinguished Alumni Award
Monday, August 31, 2026
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.