Professors Natalie Lira and Angela Hume will talk about their new books, Laboratory of Deficiency and Deep Care.  They will engage in conversation about reproductive justice on the topics of abortion and the history of sterilization. Natalie Lira is Assistant Professor of Latina/Latino Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is the author of Laboratory of Deficiency. "Lira's...

Agricultural and antitrust policy expert Austin Frerick will read from his new book on the titans of today’s food industry, Barons: Money, Power, and the Corruption of America's Food Industry.  He will be joined in conversation by Gazette Reporter Erin Jordan. Hailed as “An urgently important book,” by Eric Schlosser, Publishers Weekly says, “In this eye-opening debut...

Writers' Workshop graduate Jane Huffman will read from her new book of poetry, Public Abstract, winner of the APR/Honickman First Book Prize selected by Dana Levin. "In Jane Huffman’s poems, I feel the impassioned psychic venturing of Emily Dickinson, the wit of Kay Ryan, the fragmented surreal of Jean Valentine, and the playfulness and bravado of Gertrude...

Sarah Rose Etter will read from her best selling novel, Ripe, which was named a Best Book of the Year by Time, Huffington Post, and Kirkus. This novel, now available in paperback, has been A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice,  A Roxane Gay Audacious Book Club Selection, and A Marie Claire Book Club Pick.  Etter will be joined in...

Writers' Workshop alum Cristina Henriquez will read from her powerful new novel about the construction of the Panama Canal, The Great Divide, which was named a most anticipated book by The Washington Post, Elle, Book Riot, Electric Literature, Goodreads, The Everygirl, Lit Hub, The Millions, and Reader’s Digest.  She will be joined in conversation by author...

Join us with The Office of the Vice President for Research for this special Book Matters reading and reception to celebrate Christopher Goetz’s recent book, The Counterfeit Coin: Videogames and Fantasies of Empowerment.  Goetz will give a reading from the book and be joined in conversation by Corey Creekmur, associate professor of cinematic arts, followed by...

Writers' Workshop alumni Nam Le and Daniel Khalastchi will read from their new books of poetry.  Name Le will read from 36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem.  "With a cool outsider’s eye, Nam Le takes the English language to pieces and reassembles it with a virtuoso ease not seen since Finnegans Wake. There is wit aplenty,...

Writers' Workshop graduate and New York Times bestselling author of Olga Dies Dreaming Xochitl Gonzalez will read from her new novel, Anita de Monte Laughs Last. She will be joined in conversation by author Kevin Brockmeier. Anita de Monte Laughs Last has been called by LitHub, "a dynamic exploration of love, art, and power," and has been called "incandescent" by Publisher's Weekly. ...

Iowa Writers' Workshop alum Megan Carnes will read from her new novel, The Celdan Heresies. "This is an extraordinary, well, epic I think I'd call it. I'm in awe of Megan Carnes's imagination. I love how, as I read, I kept thinking about authors like Milton, Thomas Mann, Dante, and also my favorite theologians. I love...

Jonna Higgins-Freese will read from her debut novel Fearless: A Novel of Frances Perkins and Social Security. "Richly detailed, deeply satisfying, a novel that speaks to the heart of its time, and ours." - Susan Wittig Albert, author of Loving Eleanor. Jonna Higgins-Freese's writing has appeared in national and local publications including The Wapsipinicon Almanac and Obsolete!. She won The Examined Life’s 2013 poetry...

Carolina Hotchandani and Kelly Hoffer will read from their debut poetry collections. Carolina Hotchandani will read from The Book Eaters.  “Carolina Hotchandani’s The Book Eaters is that rare debut: one that satisfies the heart and head in equal measures. In these subtle, lyric poems, Hotchandani explores the loss of a father’s language and memory, a loss complicated by...