For more than 80 years writers have come to Iowa City to work on their manuscripts and to exchange ideas about writing and reading with each other and with the faculty. Many of them have gone on to publish award-winning work after graduating. With the spirit of an arts colony and the benefits of the research University of which we are a part, the Writers' Workshop continues to foster and to celebrate American literature in all its varied forms.

Upcoming Events

Events

Live from Prairie Lights | Stuart Nadler in conversation with Eula Biss - Rooms for Vanishing promotional image

Live from Prairie Lights | Stuart Nadler in conversation with Eula Biss - Rooms for Vanishing

Monday, March 31, 2025 7:00pm
Prairie Lights Books
Writers' Workshop alum Stuart Nadler will read from his newest novel, Rooms for Vanishing, which is a "prismatic, mind-bending family epic about the splintering of a Jewish family from Vienna—exploring the weight of exile and how grief twists our sense of the impossible" (stuartnadler.net). Kirkus Reviews describes Rooms for Vanishing as "beautifully written," while Sabrina Orah Mark, author of Happily and Wild Milk, says, "With masterful precision and an eye flecked with mysticism, Nadler...

Live from Prairie Lights | Karen Russell in conversation with Kaveh Akbar

Wednesday, April 2, 2025 7:00pm
Prairie Lights Books
Karen Russell will read from her new novel, The Antidote, in conversation with Kaveh Akbar. Karen Russell is the author of five books of fiction, including the NYT bestsellers Swamplandia! and Vampires in the Lemon Grove. She is a MacArthur Fellow and a Guggenheim Fellow, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, the recipient of two National Magazine Awards for Fiction, the Shirley Jackson Award, the 2023 Bottari Lattes Grinzane prize, the 2024 Mary McCarthy Award, and selected for the National Book...
Art & Write Night promotional image

Art & Write Night

Friday, April 4, 2025 6:00pm to 8:00pm
University of Iowa Museum of Natural History
Join the long, rich, historical tradition of artists creating in our spaces. Professional, aspiring, and amateur artists alike, make our museum your muse. The return of this popular program series welcomes guests into the Museum of Natural History's magical gallery spaces after-hours to work on sketching or writing projects with other campus and community artists. Tell a friend, grab a notebook, and join us on the first Friday of each month. We'll provide a new inspo prompt for each session...