IWP Starts Year with Three Free Events

August 31, 2010

This year the International Writing Program (IWP) is kicking off the beginning of the academic year with a series of three free events Friday, September 3 and Sunday the 5th. Each Year the IWP brings authors from all over the world to Iowa City. This year, 38 authors from 32 countries will be able to experience life on an American campus, and in an UNESCO city of literature. Friday from noon to 1:30, Milosz Biedrzycki, Andrea Hirata, Beverly Perez Rego and Sölvi Björn Sigurdsson will lead a panel discussion "Translation/Writing Across Languages" in Room A of the Iowa City Public Library. Later, at 5pm, Amilcar Bettega and Pola Oloixarac will read at Shambaugh House. Finally, Maryia Martysevich and Billy Karanja Kahora will read 4pm Sunday at Prairie Lights bookstore.

All of these events are free to the public. For more information on the authors, follow this link to the IWP Writers page. The IWP hosts events featuring the visiting authors all year long. For information on upcoming events, check the IWP calendar.

Fiction | Poetry | Nonfiction | International Writing Program
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Director Amy Margolis’s Reflections on the Iowa Summer Writing Festival

August 06, 2010

In the July edition of Spectator@IOWA, Iowa Summer Writing Festival director Amy Margolis discusses what makes the festival successful year after year. She also talks about the types of classes offered by the festival and the part Iowa City as a community plays in the festival's success. The festival attracts large numbers of people looking to sharpen their writing skills each year. Margolis states that she is continually amazed at how quickly people pick up good writing habits after attending just a few workshops.

Margolis has been working for the ISWF for 20 years, beginning as a graduate assistant while she was a student in the Writers' Workshop. Click Here for the full interview.

Iowa Writers' Workshop | Fiction | Poetry | Nonfiction
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Wag’s Revue Features 5 University of Iowa Authors

July 28, 2010

Wag's Revue is a quarterly online-only literary journal containing poetry, essays, fiction and interviews with important contemporary authors. This month, the staff at Wag's released their sixth issue, which contains material from five University of Iowa writers.

This issue includes an interview with Writers' Workshop graduate, David Shields in which he discusses his new book, Reality Hunger: A Manifesto. Also included in the journal are essays by current Nonfiction Writing Program members Rachel Yoder and Sarah Viren as well as a short story by Dylan Nice. Incoming fiction MFA candidate and O'Henry award winner Tony Tulathimutte also makes an appearance with his short story, "The Man Who Wasn't Male."

Wag's Revue, is always free to view and the issues are available as PDF downloads as well.

Iowa Writers' Workshop | Alumni | Fiction | Nonfiction | Nonfiction Writing Program
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Writers’ Workshop Graduate Catherine Knepper Helps Authors Get Published

July 13, 2010

Catherine Knepper, a 2004 Iowa Writers' Workshop graduate, has found a somewhat unorthodox way to put her education to use. She has started her own business in Des Moines, Catherine Knepper Ghostwriting, from which she now edits and ghostwrites. She states that it is extremely difficult for an unknown writer to get published and finds helping such individuals very rewarding. Most of the business she gets is from word of mouth and referrals from agents. Having opened just last August, Knepper states that she has already had to turn people away; a situation she believes is due to the changing publishing environment.

Click Here to read Knepper's story from the Des Moines Register. In the article, Knepper also provides tips for authors looking to get published.

Iowa Writers' Workshop | Alumni | Fiction | Poetry | Nonfiction
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Marylinne Robinson on The Daily Show

July 08, 2010

Tonight, 7/8/2010, Pulitzer Prize winning author and Writers' Workshop instructor, Marylinne Robinson will be on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. She will be discussing her new book, Absence of Mind, a nonfiction work in which Robinson tackles the difficult subjects of science, religion and consciousness. Click here for the L.A. Times review of the book .

The show will air tonight at 10pm CDT. If you miss the program, the interview should appear on The Daily Show Guests page online after it airs.

Iowa Writers' Workshop | Nonfiction | Faculty
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