Cait West will talk with Iowa City author Lori Erickson about Rift: A Memoir of Breaking Away from Christian Patriarchy. This debut memoir is West's story of being raised in a strict, religious family, homeschooled, and ruled by authoritarian discipline and a literal interpretation of the Bible. In a starred review, Publishers Weekly calls Rift âA powerful meditation...
Former University of Iowa professor Michael Miller will read from his new historical fiction, The High Bridge. Author Sally Roesch Wagner calls The High Bridge "A highly engaging and thought-provoking journey into what might have resulted if suffragist Matilda Joslyn Gage and future president Grover Cleveland, who lived in the upstate village of Fayetteville at...
Iowa photographer Justin E. Tedford will talk about his new book, Iowa: Land Between Two Rivers, and share insights into the process of capturing Iowa's essence through photography. This new paperback book showcases the stunning landscapes and rich narratives of Iowa and will appeal to photography enthusiasts and anyone interested in the cultural and natural heritage of...
Suzanne Scanlon will read from her intimate, unsparing chronicle of surviving mental illness, Committed: On Meaning and Madwomen. She will be joined in conversation by Mieke Eerkens. "Suzanne Scanlonâs memoir Committed is a lyrical and illuminating account of a young womanâs struggle with mental illness and institutionalization. Mining the metaphors endemic to the institutional settingâthe way madness or insanity is âa...
Alex Award-winning Iowa City author Bart Yates will read from his latest novel, The Very Long, Very Strange Life of Isaac Dahl. The subject of this intriguing and innovative novel, historian Isaac Dahl, encapsulates his remarkable life in this chronicle of twelve remarkable days. "The life course of a gay man born at the end of World War...
Hollywood singer and choral director Sally Stevens will read from her new work of historical fiction, The Odyssey of Mrs. Naomi Billingsley. âCome with us on the magical journey of the sweetly insane and delusional Mrs. Naomi Billingsley, who has created fantastic, magical and delightful fantasies to break the humdrum existence of her daily midwestern life....
Anthony Varallo and Jared Joseph will read from their new fiction, What Did You Do Today? and Danny the Ambulance. Anthony Varallo will read from What Did You Do Today?, winner of the 2023 Katherine Anne Porter Prize in Short Fiction. âThere are few authors working in the flash form today who write with as much grace and mastery...
Grinnell College assistant professor of English and Iowa Writersâ Workshop grad Santiago Jose Sanchez will read from their debut novel, Hombrecito. They will be joined in conversation by novelist Claire Lombardo. Hombrecito is a queer coming-of-age story about a young immigrantâs complex relationships with his mother and his motherland. âHombrecito is a gorgeous novel of the in-between, the waiting...
Iowa Writers' Workshop alum Melissa Mogollon will read from her coming of age comedy, Oye: A Novel.  âFunny and smart, Oye grapples with the messy inheritance of intergenerational trauma and how it manifests in the everyday conversations with the people we love. Mogollon has written a beautiful book.ââClaire Jimenez  âHeartbreaking and humorous, mature and mischievous, Oye feels like home in delicious and furious ways....
Charles Holdefer will read from his new collection of stories, Ivan the Terrible Goes on a Family Picnic. "Did the Russians invent baseball? Is there a connection between Babe Ruthâs cross-dressing and Gertrude Steinâs secret mission to New York? What does history tell us about what lies beyond heaven? From the American heartland to Hiroshima, to...
The University of Iowa IWP Between the Lines Program presents: Identity & Belonging, Three Readings with JosĂŠ Olivarez and Mansoura Ez-Eldin JosĂŠ Olivarez is the son of Mexican immigrants, and the author of two collections of poems, including, most recently, Promises of Goldâwhich was long listed for the 2023 National Book Awards. His debut book of poems, Citizen...
Join us with Brink literary journal founder Nina Lohman, who will read from her lyrical new work of nonfiction, The Body Alone, published by University of Iowa Press! "This book is a searching inventory of a life altered by pain, punctuated with forays into history, etymology, theology, and poetics. It's a stubborn, tender record of the unrecordable,...
