Join us for a special Darwin Day reading by Chris Jones, author of The Swine Republic. Published in 2023 by local publisher Ice Cube Press and named a 2024 "Great Reads from Great Places" book by the Library of Congress, The Swine Republic provides extensive research and reportage on the truth behind Iowa's infamously poor water quality, which...
Jill Lens will read from her book Stillbirth and the Law, which "blends personal experience and legal analysis to bring us an original, essential guide to this all-too-often unrecognized public health crisis. By exposing how the law inhibits prevention, affects the experience of stillbirth for birthing parents, and shapes broader notions of unborn life, Lens argues...
Iowa Writers' Workshop alum and bestselling author Chris Offutt will read from his newest book, The Reluctant Sheriff, which is a continuation of his Mick Hardin thriller series. Praised by bestselling author Ian Rankin as “righteous Kentucky noir with top notes of Daniel Woodrell and S. A. Cosby,” The Reluctant Sheriff follows sheriff Mick Hardin as he navigates...
Writers' Workshop graduate Caitlin Roach will read from her debut book of poems, Surveille, winner of the 2024 Brittingham Poetry Prize. “In Surveille, Caitlin Roach is a reader of omens, of the shapes hidden in shadows, recasting the hard lessons of the natural world. Born between the twin flames of Brigit Pegeen Kelly and Mary Oliver, this book...
Writers' Workshop alum Jonathan Thirkield will read from his newest book of poems, Infinity Pool. The University of Chicago Press, publisher of Infinity Pool, describes Thirkield's poems as "... through a decade of exponential technological growth, landing in the reality of our corporeal experiences: the isolation of chronic illness, the daunting journeys of children growing up today,...
Celebrate National Poetry Month by joining us for a special Sunday afternoon event for kids and families with Minnesota-based children's author Molly Beth Griffin and Iowa City illustrator Claudia McGehee, who will talk about their gorgeous new picture book of nature and poetry, Rings of Heartwood: Poems on Growing. We'll chat and read and move together, and...
Associate professors of the University of Iowa's School of Journalism Frank D. Durham and Tom Oates will read from their new book, Forming the Public: A Critical History of Journalism in the U.S. The University of Illinois Press, which published Forming the Public, describes it as "provid an eye-opening analysis of the role played by journalism in...
San Francisco-based (former Iowa Citian!) Kate Folk will read from her new novel, Sky Daddy, and be joined in conversation by bestselling Nightbitch author Rachel Yoder. Centered on a character named Linda who "knows that she can’t tell anyone she’s sexually obsessed with planes," Sky Daddy "hijacks the classic love story, exploring desire, fate, and the longing to be accepted...
Iowa Writers' Workshop alum Sanjena Sathian will read from her new novel, Goddess Complex, and will be joined in conversation by Ren Arcamone, also a Writers' Workshop alum. Penguin Random House, which published Goddess Complex, describes it as "a darkly funny, vertiginous novel about the dilemmas of procreation, pregnancy, and parenting." Sarah Thankam Mathews, author of the...
Montreal-based professor of English and translator Nathan Brown will read from his translation of The Flowers of Evil by Charles Baudelaire. Verso Books says: "Probing the depths of the modern psyche in a voice at once caustic and vulnerable, melancholic and humorous, Baudelaire’s infamous book brings to the surface a new understanding of evil, of eroticism, and...
Brooklyn-based writer and Iowa Writers' Workshop alum Paul Lisicky will read from his newest book, Song So Wild and Blue: A Life with the Music of Joni Mitchell. He will be joined in conversation with fellow Writers' Workshop alum and current Iowa City resident, Garth Greenwell. Named a Most Anticipated Book of Spring 2025 by Kirkus...
Poet Karla Kelsey will read from her newest book, Transcendental Factory: For Mina Loy. Described as a "lyric-documentary rendezvous with iconoclastic writer and visual artist Mina Loy (1882–1966)" (karlakelsey.com), Transcendental Factory is praised by writer Danielle Dutton as "a brilliant novel from inside and outside Mina Loy—a novel that is also a poem, a dictionary, a historical compendium,...
