Events Calendar

Apr 4, 2025

3:00 PM

Literary Agent William Callahan will be giving a Publishing Q&A at the Nonfiction Writing House on Friday, April 4 at 3 p.m. William Callahan is an Inkwell Management agent and editor based in New York City. He is responsible for representing and managing the careers of a diverse roster of authors and literary talents. Prior to his current role, Callahan received his degree from the University of Iowa, where he honed his skills and passion for the publishing industry. Join us at the Nonfict...

Apr 4, 2025

4:30 PM - 6:30 PM

The second of two lectures bridging narrative media by David LaRocca, author or contributing editor of twenty books, including Werner Herzog / Rogue Filmmaker, The Philosophy of Charlie Kaufman, and Movies with Stanley Cavell in Mind. In today’s talk, LaRocca responds to an episode of Documentary Now! in which the parody series weighs in on the aesthetics of Werner Herzog’s persona, including tests of the epiphenomenon’s ethics, (faux) gravitas, and self-aware humor. Here metafilmmaking...

Apr 5, 2025

2:00 PM - 3:00 PM

Join us for four discussions of Toni Morrison's Beloved and the exhibition it's a fine thing, led by the Stanley’s curator of special projects and author of What Napoleon Could Not Do, Derek (DK) Nnuro. Register for each session by clicking the dates below, capped at 30 participants:  Feb. 15 (Pages 1 - 59) March 8 (Pages 60 - 195) April 5 (Pages 199 - 277) May 10 (Pages 281 - 324) Iowa City is one of 62 communities nationwide participating in the 2023-2024 NEA Big Read. From Februa...

Apr 5, 2025

3:00 PM

Torrey Peters, alum of the Nonfiction Writing Program will read from her new book Stag Dance at Prairie Lights Books on Saturday, April 5 at 3 p.m. Reception to follow - 4:30pm at The Nonfiction Writing House - 530 N. Clinton St., Iowa City. Torrey Peters, NWP 2009, will publish Stag Dance: A Novel and Stories, with Penguin Random House in March 2025.

Apr 6, 2025

1:00 PM - 2:00 PM

Join us for a tour of the Stanley Museum of Art's latest exhibition, it's a fine thing. This tour is presented in conjunction with the NEA Big Read and will draw connections between the show and Toni Morrison's novel Beloved. . This tour is part of the Sundays with the Docents program where Stanley docents create unique tours to share with our audiences throughout the year. Registration is strongly recommended. Walk-ins are welcome, but tours are capped at 20 participants. Reserve your spo...

Apr 10, 2025

6:30 PM - 8:00 PM

Join us at the Stanley Museum of Art for the 2025 Bette R. Spriestersbach Endowed Lectureship , featuring Siddhartha V. Shah, PhD, and John Wieland 1958 Director at the Mead Art Museum at Amherst College.  Our Wounds and Our Weapons: Artmaking in India as Liberatory Practice, 1947 to Today Independence from British rule in 1947 signaled the end of nearly 350 years of British occupation, leaving the people of India to grapple with tremendous trauma and the task of building a nation that was...

Apr 15, 2025

4:30 PM - 6:00 PM

Join the Office of the Vice President for Research and the Office of the Provost as we celebrate faculty and staff who have published books since spring 2023. University leadership will make remarks at 4:30 p.m., followed by short readings by scholars who have recently authored books: Sarah E. Bond, associate professor in the Department of History, and the author of Strike: Labor, Unions, and Resistance in the Roman Empire (Yale University Press, 2025) Jill Wieber Lens, Dorothy M. Willie...

Apr 17, 2025

2:00 PM - 3:30 PM

Nathan Brown will be presenting. Nathan Brown is Professor of English and Canada Research Chair in Poetics at Concordia University, Montreal, where he directs the Centre for Expanded Poetics. He is the author of Baudelaire's Shadow: An Essay on Poetic Determination (MaMa, 2021); Rationalist Empiricism: A Theory of Speculative Critique (Fordham, 2021); and The Limits of Fabrication: Materials Science, Materialist Poetics (Fordham, 2017). His translation of Baudelaire's The Flowers of Evil wa...

Apr 24, 2025

6:00 PM - 8:00 PM

Join us for a compelling panel discussion moderated by Katherine Simóne Reynolds and featuring Kelley Lemon, Naima Green, and Alicia Olushola Ajayi.  This conversation will illuminate the many ways Black artists and practitioners are engaging with ecological narratives, uncovering hidden histories, and shaping future landscapes. This event is held in conjunction with the exhibition, it's a fine thing, currently on view at the Stanley Museum of Art. Moderator: Katherine Simóne Reynolds is...

Apr 27, 2025

2:30 PM - 4:15 PM

Write at the Stanley: A Generative Writing Workshop is back for the Spring Semester! Join us monthly to generate new creative writing inspired by works in the Stanley collection. Each session will be led by a different talented writer from our area, who will be offering a new prompt and a new approach to ekphrastic writing (writing inspired by visual art). Bring your own notebook and pencil or computer and leave with the beginning of a newly written piece. Co-sponsored by Iowa City Poetry....

May 2, 2025

7:00 PM

Austin Araujo, Grad Student at the Nonfiction Writing Program, will read from his new book At the Park on the Edge of the Country with Patrycja Humienik at Prairie Lights Books on Friday, May 2 at 7 p.m.  

May 10, 2025

2:00 PM - 3:00 PM

Join us for four discussions of Toni Morrison's Beloved and the exhibition it's a fine thing, led by the Stanley’s curator of special projects and author of What Napoleon Could Not Do, Derek (DK) Nnuro. Register for each session by clicking the dates below, capped at 30 participants:  Feb. 15 (Pages 1 - 59) March 8 (Pages 60 - 195) April 5 (Pages 199 - 277) May 10 (Pages 281 - 324) Iowa City is one of 62 communities nationwide participating in the 2023-2024 NEA Big Read. From Februa...

May 12, 2025

All Day

Have you been waiting all school year to make serious progress on your book manuscript, article, or grant application? Jump-start your summer writing project at the Obermann End-of-Year Writing Retreat May 12–16, 2025! Fifteen participants will enjoy a week of quiet productivity apart from the distractions of campus at the beautiful North Ridge Pavilion in Coralville. Daily catered lunches will provide an opportunity for exchange and discussion with other writers across campus. Each day wil...

May 25, 2025

2:30 PM - 4:15 PM

Write at the Stanley: A Generative Writing Workshop is back for the Spring Semester! Join us monthly to generate new creative writing inspired by works in the Stanley collection. Each session will be led by a different talented writer from our area, who will be offering a new prompt and a new approach to ekphrastic writing (writing inspired by visual art). Bring your own notebook and pencil or computer and leave with the beginning of a newly written piece. Co-sponsored by Iowa City Poetry....