Students, join the book club that meets monthly inside the iconic Old Capitol Museum, with books of all genres, chosen by you. Come read, wonder, and connect as we transform this timeless building into a cozy retreat for shared stories and spirited discussion in the Pentacrest Museums first ever student book club.

For the Spring 2026 semester, Book Club @ the Museum will meet on the following Mondays from 7 to 8 p.m. at Old Cap:

Feb. 2 (Please note: for February's book club meeting, we'll get to...

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...

Carmen Maria Machado is the author of the bestselling memoir In the Dream House and the award-winning short story collection Her Body and Other Parties. She has been a finalist for the National Book Award and the winner of the Bard Fiction Prize, the Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Fiction, the Lambda Literary Award for LGBTQ Nonfiction, the Brooklyn Public Library Literature Prize, the Shirley Jackson Award, and the National Book Critics Circle's John Leonard Prize. In 2018, The New York...

Join us for a special Book Matters celebrating acclaimed author Jamel Brinkley, recipient of a 2024 Guggenheim Fellowship and a 2022–2023 Rome Prize in Literature.

Provost Kevin Kregel will recognize Brinkley for his external awards. Brinkley will read a selection from his work and then join Stephen Lovely, novelist and director of the Iowa Young Writers’ Studio, for conversation and audience Q&A.

“Jamel Brinkley is one of the best story writers we have…Read everything this man writes, and know...