Upcoming Events

Upcoming Events

Coming Soon: 100-Word Microstory Contest promotional image

Coming Soon: 100-Word Microstory Contest

Saturday, July 19 to Friday, July 25, 2025 (all day)
Virtual
Mark your calendar for our 100-Word Microstory Contest—a free online writing competition for a variety of age groups.You don’t have to be an Iowa Writers’ Workshop grad—or even have participated in a writing contest before—to join in the fun. Just create a story in 100 words or less that uses one of two specific writing prompts. We will announce the writing prompts here on Monday, July 14, 2025, at 9 a.m. CDT.
Coming Soon: 100-Word Microstory Contest promotional image

Coming Soon: 100-Word Microstory Contest

Sunday, July 20 to Friday, July 25, 2025 (all day)
Virtual
Mark your calendar for our 100-Word Microstory Contest—a free online writing competition for a variety of age groups.You don’t have to be an Iowa Writers’ Workshop grad—or even have participated in a writing contest before—to join in the fun. Just create a story in 100 words or less that uses one of two specific writing prompts. We will announce the writing prompts here on Monday, July 14, 2025, at 9 a.m. CDT.
Coming Soon: 100-Word Microstory Contest promotional image

Coming Soon: 100-Word Microstory Contest

Monday, July 21 to Friday, July 25, 2025 (all day)
Virtual
Mark your calendar for our 100-Word Microstory Contest—a free online writing competition for a variety of age groups.You don’t have to be an Iowa Writers’ Workshop grad—or even have participated in a writing contest before—to join in the fun. Just create a story in 100 words or less that uses one of two specific writing prompts. We will announce the writing prompts here on Monday, July 14, 2025, at 9 a.m. CDT.
Coming Soon: 100-Word Microstory Contest promotional image

Coming Soon: 100-Word Microstory Contest

Tuesday, July 22 to Friday, July 25, 2025 (all day)
Virtual
Mark your calendar for our 100-Word Microstory Contest—a free online writing competition for a variety of age groups.You don’t have to be an Iowa Writers’ Workshop grad—or even have participated in a writing contest before—to join in the fun. Just create a story in 100 words or less that uses one of two specific writing prompts. We will announce the writing prompts here on Monday, July 14, 2025, at 9 a.m. CDT.

Live from Prairie Lights | Karen Bender - 'The Words of Dr. L'

Tuesday, July 22, 2025 7:00pm
Prairie Lights Books
Iowa Summer Writing Festival instructor Karen Bender will read from her newest book, The Words of Dr. L & Other Stories. Described by publisher Counterpoint Press as "speculative stories of parents and children, together and apart, surviving near-future dystopias that feel all-too-possible—and realities that can be even stranger," The Words of Dr. L is Karen's third short story collection and fifth book. Matthew Klam, author of the novel Who Is Rich?, praises The Words of Dr. L as "beautifully...
Coming Soon: 100-Word Microstory Contest promotional image

Coming Soon: 100-Word Microstory Contest

Wednesday, July 23 to Friday, July 25, 2025 (all day)
Virtual
Mark your calendar for our 100-Word Microstory Contest—a free online writing competition for a variety of age groups.You don’t have to be an Iowa Writers’ Workshop grad—or even have participated in a writing contest before—to join in the fun. Just create a story in 100 words or less that uses one of two specific writing prompts. We will announce the writing prompts here on Monday, July 14, 2025, at 9 a.m. CDT.

Just recently...

Art & Write Night promotional image

Art & Write Night

Friday, June 6, 2025 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...
CANCELED: Live from Prairie Lights | Abby Geni  - 'The Body Farm' promotional image

CANCELED: Live from Prairie Lights | Abby Geni - 'The Body Farm'

Friday, May 30, 2025 7:00pm
Prairie Lights Books
Iowa Writers' Workshop alum Abby Geni will read from her newest short story collection, The Body Farm. Elizabeth Niarchos Neukirch of The Chicago Review of Books calls The Body Farm "a gripping collection of stories that take an empathetic and unflinching look at the horrors and joys of inhabiting our bodies" and goes on to praise it as "stories [that] help us relate with her characters, our own bodies, and the natural world that surrounds us outside her lyrical pages" (chireviewofbooks.com)...
Canceled

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