College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
News
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Justin Torres wins the 2023 National Book Award for Fiction
November 16, 2023
Justin Torres, a 2010 graduate of the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop, won the 2023 National Book Award for Fiction. Torres was honored by the National Book Foundation for his novel Blackouts, published by Farrar, Straus, and Giroux/MacMillan Publishers. Blackouts tells an intergenerational story of a young man who cares for a dying soul, whom he once knew briefly, but who has haunted the edges of his life. -
National Book Foundation to present Lifetime Achievement Award to Rita Dove
September 09, 2023
The National Book Foundation, presenter of the National Book Awards, announced that it will award Rita Dove (MFA 1977) with the 2023 Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters (DCAL). -
R.A. Judy receives Truman Capote Award
September 08, 2023
R.A. Judy, professor of critical and cultural studies at the University of Pittsburgh, has been selected by the University of Iowa as the 2023 recipient of the Truman Capote Literary Trust Award for Literary Criticism in Memory of Newton Arvin. -
Accepting submissions for the 2024 Iowa Short Fiction Awards
August 16, 2023
We are pleased to announce the 2024 Iowa Short Fiction Awards will be judged by Jamil Jan Kochai, winner of the Aspen Words Literary Prize and National Book Award Finalist. Any writer yet to publish a volume of fiction is eligible, and two winning manuscripts will be published by the University of Iowa Press. Submit your manuscript by September 30th at https://fictionawards.writersworkshop.uiowa.edu/ -
Logan Hoffman-Smith a 2023 Lambda Literary Fellow in Fiction
July 13, 2023
Congratulations to Logan Hoffman-Smith (MFA 2023), one of 100 emerging LGBTQ writers to join Lambda Literary's 2023 Writer's Retreat for Emerging LGBTQ Voices. Hoffman was also recipient of a 2023 Justin Chin Memorial Scholarship. -
Arinze Ifeakandu, 'God's Children Are Little Broken Things' wins the 2023 Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize
May 12, 2023
Congratulations to Arinze Ifeakandu (MFA 2020) on winning the 2023 Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize for his debut novel, God's Children Are Little Broken Things. -
Xochitl Gonzalez & Vauhini Vara announced 2023 Pulitzer Prize Finalists
May 09, 2023
Vauhini Vara (MFA 2010) was a finalist in Fiction for The Immortal King Rao "About a tech genius turned exile and the daughter who is struggling to break free of his hold, a complicated family saga that is also an ambitious novel exploring topics such as climate change and the legacy of colonialism in a vibrant and surprisingly humorous voice." -
Rebecca Lee and Abraham Verghese awarded Guggenheim Fellowships
May 08, 2023
Workshop alumni Rebecca Lee (MFA 1992) and Abraham Verghese (MFA 1991) are among the 171 scientists, writers, scholars and artists from 48 fields awarded 2023 Guggenheim Fellowships this year from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Lee is recognized in the field of fiction and Verghese in the field of General Nonfiction. -
Celebrating 15 Years of The Rona Jaffe Foundation Graduate Fellowship at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop
April 28, 2023
The Rona Jaffe Foundation, established by celebrated author Rona Jaffe (1931 – 2005) to support other women writers at critical moments in their literary careers, recently marked its 15th year funding a Graduate Fellowship at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop (IWW). The fellowship provides essential financial support to emerging female artists as they deepen their craft and bring their work into the world. -
Lan Samantha Chang, Director of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, wins Anisfield-Wolf Book Award
April 03, 2023
Courageous Books About Black Soldiers, Feuding Asian-American Brothers in Wisconsin, Horseracing’s Racial History, and the Pervasiveness of White Supremacy Have All Won the 88th Annual Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards CLEVELAND (April 3, 2023) – The Cleveland Foundation today announced the winners of its 88th Annual Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards. The 2023 recipients of the only national juried prize for literature that confronts racism and explores diversity are: -
Ren Arcamone Awarded PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers
March 02, 2023
Ren Arcamone (MFA, 2020) was selected as a winner of the PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers for her short story, "Allen ", published in HEAT (April 2022). The PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers recognizes 12 emerging fiction writers each year for their debut short story published in a literary magazine or cultural website and aims to support the launch of their careers as fiction writers. For more information: -
Romeo Oriogun wins Nigeria Prize For Literature
October 15, 2022
Romeo Oriogun (MFA '21) has won the Nigeria Prize For Literature for his second collection, Nomad (Griots Lounge Publishing Nigeria, 2021). -
Kay Ryan and Heather Clark Receive the 2021 and 2022 Truman Capote Awards
September 02, 2022
Former U.S. Poet Laureate Kay Ryan won the 2021 Truman Capote Award for Literary Criticism in Memory of Newton Arvin for her book, Synthesizing Gravity: Selected Prose, released by Grove Press in 2021, and Heather Clark won the 2022 award for her book Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath, released by Alfred A. Knopf in 2020. -
Jamel Brinkley and Robyn Schiff Win Rome Prizes in Literature
April 25, 2022
Writers’ Workshop faculty member and alumnus, novelist Jamel Brinkley (MFA 2015) and Emory University faculty member and Workshop alumnus, poet Robyn Schiff (MFA 1999) have been awarded 2022-2023 Rome Prizes in Literature. Schiff will receive the Joseph Brodsky Rome Prize for Literature, a gift of the Drue Heinz Trust. -
Brandon Taylor wins Story Prize for 'Filthy Animals'
April 14, 2022
Workshop alumnus Brandon Taylor (MFA, 2019) was awarded the 2022 Story Prize last night, for his collection, Filthy Animals (Riverhead Books) . The prize was announced at a private event that was broadcast live, in a ceremony with authors Lily King for Five Tuesdays in Winter (Grove Press) and J. Robert Lennon for Think of Me (Graywolf Press), whose work was also honored.