Join us for the International Writing Program's Prairie Lights Reading Series this Sunday to hear readings by two 2023 Fall Residency writers and one University of Iowa MFA student.

Tammy Lai-Ming Ho (poet, scholar, editor, translator; Hong Kong) is the author of a story collection, an academic monograph on neo-Victorian cannibalism and two volumes of poetry; a third volume will appear in 2024. She is the editor-in-chief of Cha: An Asian Literary Journal, the English-language editor at Voice &...

Iowa Writers' Workshop alum J.C. Hallman will read from Say Anarcha: A Young Woman, a Devious Surgeon, and the Harrowing Birth of Modern Women's Health. In 1846, a young surgeon, J. Marion Sims ("The Father of Gynecology"), began several years of experimental surgeries on a young enslaved woman known as Anarcha ("The Mother of Gynecology"). This series of procedures—performed without anesthesia and resulting in Anarcha's so-called "cure"—forever altered the path of women's health. "This...

National book award finalist Jamel Brinkley will read from his highly anticipated new short story collection, Witness. He will be joined in conversation by fellow Workshop alum Carmen Maria Machado. Witness has been enthusiastically praised by The New York Times, NPR, Los Angeles Times, and numerous other places, and author Yiyun Li says, “Jamel Brinkley reminds one of the iconic short-story writers Edward P. Jones and Mavis Gallant. This is a dazzling collection by a masterful storyteller.”
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Please join us on Zoom with Writers' Workshop alums Andrew Ridker and Lee Cole, who will talk about Ridker's new novel, Hope. Cathi Hanauer of The New York Times Book Review calls Hope “Riotous. ... Franzen-esque. ... Hilarious ... impeccably written. ... His comic assurance ... is reminiscent of Meg Wolitzer. ... Ridker[’s] characters make mistakes, but they pay the price, recover and grow. ... [T]hey soldier on and try not to lose hope. Just as we hold ours that this talented writer will keep...