Alumni Updates

Steven Willis standing outside Prairie Lights

Writers' Workshop Alumni

Our alumni work as teachers and writers across many disciplines and publish books in every genre. 6 recent U.S. Poets Laureate have been graduates of the Writers' Workshop and some of the most distinctive, celebrated voices in contemporary poetry and fiction have come through our program and used their time here to develop their work and their voice.

"I do not in fact know what I would have done, or who I would have been as an adult, if I hadn’t lived in and around Iowa City"

- Jane Smiley, Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, MFA Writers' Workshop

News, Publications, and Awards

Jamel Brinkley wins 2024 Maya Angelou Book Award Juan Felipe Herrera awarded 2024 MacArthur Genius Grant Ruthvika Rao shortlisted for the Center For Fiction First Novel Prize Elizabeth Willis and m.s. RedCherries longlisted for the 2024 National Book Award in Poetry Tony Tulathimutte longlisted for the 2024 National Book Award in Fiction V. V. Ganeshananthan wins the 2024 Carol Shields Prize for Fiction Jayne Anne Phillips wins the 2024 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction Jorie Graham, Yiyun Li, and Robyn Schiff are finalists for the 2024 Pulitzer Prizes in Fiction and Poetry

Before the Mango Ripens, by Afabwaje Kurian

Before the Mango Ripens
Afabwaje Kurian
_{September 24, 2024 | Fiction}

The Goner School
Jessica Laser
_{September 27, 2024 | Poetry}

Small Rain
Garth Greenwell
_{September 3, 2024 | Fiction}

Terminal Maladies
Okwudili Nebeolisa

Browse Publications

See Prizes & Awards

The Latest Alumni Updates

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Monday, August 18, 2025

"Hockey, prep school and a mystery drive Pittsburgh native's new novel" | Anna Bruno on 90.5WESA, Pittsburgh NPR News https://www.wesa.fm/arts-culture/2025-08-15/anna-bruno-novel-fine-young-people-mystery-hockey-prep-school

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Monday, August 18, 2025

A Light in the Northern Sea: A Q&A with Tim Brady | History in the Margins blog https://www.historyinthemargins.com/2025/08/12/a-light-in-the-northern-sea-a-q-a-with-tim-brady/

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Monday, August 18, 2025

Elin Hilderbrand in New Canaan, CT on September 15 https://www.newcanaanlibrary.org/event/hold-elin-hilderbrand-139622

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Monday, August 18, 2025

Tony Tulathimutte in conversation with Rebecca Rukeyser in Berlin, Germany on September 23 https://www.shakespeareandsons.com/pages/rejection-tony-tulathimutte-in-conversation-with-rebecca-rukeyser

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Monday, August 18, 2025

"All over everything: An Interview with Izzy Casey" | 'Poetry Daily' What Sparks Poetry : Building Community https://poems.com/features/what-sparks-poetry/all-over-everything-an-interview-with-izzy-casey/

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Monday, August 18, 2025

'Sentences Toward Birds' (1975), by Robert Grenier, highlighted on Read a Little Poetry blog https://readalittlepoetry.com/2025/08/13/sentences-toward-birds-by-robert-grenier/