The Writing University

The University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine will host "The Examined Life: Writing and the Art of Medicine," a three-day conference, April 19th - 21st, focusing on the links between the science of medicine and the art of writing. The conference hopes to foster a collaboration and discussion involving the role of writing in medical education. Sessions will focus on the benefits of writing throughout a lifelong career as a physician, as well as the role of creative writing in patient care. Participants will be able to take advantage of skill-building sessions on writing, editing and publishing creative work. Many of the events are open to the public, although registration includes conference materials, access to all sessions, and meals & receptions. Visit the website for more information on The Examined Life: Writing and the Art of Medicine.

POROI (Project on Rhetoric of Inquiry) is pleased to announce Crossing: A Braided Memoir, a Rhetoric Seminar by Russell Scott Valentino. The seminar will take place on Wednesday, February 1, 2012 11:30am-1pm and the Bowman House on the University of Iowa campus. Crossing: A Braided Memoir employs the compositional technique of the braid to explore the composite themes of mixture, translation (crossing with something on your back), and transgression (crossing the line). Crossing is both physical, as in movement from one place to another, one shore to another, and metaphysical, as in what happens when you die. It also holds a wealth of figurative associations from the mixing of cultures and languages to religions and races. It is movement across thresholds of various kinds, barriers, borders. It is bastardization when opposed to purity. Visit the POROI website to download a PDF of the paper.

The University of Iowa's new Frank N. Magid Undergraduate Writing Center now offers an undergraduate writing certificate to all students, regardless of their major. The center, housed within the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, officially began its work last semester following a $1 million commitment from UI graduate Marilyn Magid in honor of her late husband, Frank, a fellow UI alumnus. But the plans for providing more options for undergraduate students, have been in the works for some time, said Helena Dettmer, an associate dean for Undergraduate Programs and Curriculum and a professor of Classics at UI. “It occurred to me that one of the reasons students might want to come here is because of the school’s great emphasis on writing,” Dettmer said. “We decided we needed a credential that students could earn as undergraduates.” Read more...

Sara Levine's Treasure Island!!!, which she conceived while teaching nonfiction writing at the University of Iowa, will open a week of live literary streams on the writinguniversity.org website. "I was teaching nonfiction at the University of Iowa and a colleague asked me which essayists I liked, and I mentioned Robert Louis Stevenson," says Levine, explaining how she came to write the book. "I was thinking of Stevenson's essays but he said 'Oh, Treasure Island.'" Thinking it might be fun to write an essay about not liking the book, Levine picked up a copy and found its swashbuckling style enjoyable. -from an The NWI Times article The events, originating at 7 p.m. in Prairie Lights Books will be: --Levine on Monday, Jan. 23. --Adina Hoffman and Peter Cole reading from Sacred Trash on Tuesday, Jan. 24. --Roger Rosenblatt reading from the memoir Kayak Morning: Reflections on Love, Grief and Small Boats on Friday, Jan. 27. Read more

Each January, The Iowa Review holds a writing contest in Poetry, Fiction, and Nonfiction. Judges for the 2012 Iowa Review Awards are Timothy Donnelly (poetry), Ron Currie, Jr. (fiction), and Meghan Daum (nonfiction). Winners receive $1,500; first runners-up receive $750. Winners and runners-up are published in our December 2012 issue. Contest rules and submission guidelines Current students, faculty, or staff of the University of Iowa are not eligible to enter the contest. Work is ineligible to win the contest if it is slated for publication before December 2012, whether in another magazine or as part of a book, or if it has been named winner or runner-up in any other contest. Judges are instructed not to award the prize to entrants with whom they have had a personal or professional relationship. Despite reading the entries with author names removed, judges may sometimes be able to guess the identity of the entrant. Even if they can't tell during the judging process, they have the right to change their decision if it turns out that the entrant is someone with whom there is any appearance of conflict of interest. Therefore, the Iowa Review advises entrants not to enter the contest if the judge is someone they know personally or have worked with professionally.

The International Writing Program is proud to announce the launch of its newly redesigned website, providing information about the IWP’s many programs and initiatives in a new attractive location. Through strategic partnerships with many international organizations, and frequently with the support of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State, the IWP fosters relationships and understanding between international and American writers; provides joint distance learning opportunities for American and international students; and publishes materials that bring established and new international voices to a broad audience. While the URL remains the same, you’ll notice that the redesigned site makes it easier than ever for an extended network of readers, writers, teachers, and students to explore the cache of literary work, presentations, interviews, films, news items, and collaborations accumulated over the IWP’s 45-year history. Visit the new website here: IWP website

Well-endowed sea captains and housewives, Zen weed-whacking, Venice but not Venice, once upon a time in a darkened room, and eyewitness haiku. The Iowa Review announces their Winter 2011/12 issue, featuring photography by Christopher Beckman and essays, stories, and poems by Lia Purpura, George Eklund, Chris Offutt, Martha Collins, Craig Reinbold, the winners of the 2011 Iowa Review Awards, and more... Add a little Iowa to your fireside reading! Check out The Iowa Review website for online selections and the Editor's Note.

Milkweed Editions and the Lindquist & Vennum Foundation are pleased to announce the establishment of the Lindquist & Vennum Prize for Poetry. This annual regional prize—open to poets currently residing in North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, or Wisconsin—will award $10,000 as well as a contract for publication to the author of the winning manuscript. Finalists for the prize will be selected by the editors of Milkweed Editions, with the winner to be selected by an independent judge who will be named annually and chosen from among the ranks of eminent regional and national writers. The first annual prize-winning collection of poems will be announced in April 2012 and published in November 2012. This year, the judge will be Peter Campion, the author of two collections of poems, Other People (2005) and The Lions (2009), both from the University of Chicago Press, as well as a monograph on the painter Mitchell Johnson, published in 2004 by Terrence Rogers Fine Arts. He is the recipient of a Pushcart Prize, the Larry Levis Reading Prize, the Rome Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. He teaches in the M.F.A. program at the University of Minnesota, and lives in Minneapolis. Milkweed Editions is one of the nation’s leading independent publishers, with a mission to identify, nurture and publish transformative literature, and build an engaged community around it. The Lindquist & Vennum Foundation was established by the Minneapolis-headquartered law firm of Lindquist & Vennum, PLLP, and is a donor-advised fund of The Minneapolis Foundation. This partnership between Milkweed Editions and the Lindquist & Vennum Foundation will celebrate poets for their artistic contributions, and bring outstanding regional writers to a national stage. For more information regarding eligibility and submission, please visit the Lindquist & Vennum Prize page on our website.

In this video, Eric Olsen reads from We Wanted to Be Writers at Live from Prairie Lights. We Wanted to be Writers is a rollicking and insightful blend of original interviews, commentary, advice, gossip, anecdotes, analyses, history, and asides with nearly thirty graduates and teachers at the now legendary Iowa Writers' Workshop between 1974 and 1978. Among the talents that emerged in those years-writing, criticizing, drinking, and debating in the classrooms and barrooms of Iowa City-were the younger versions of writers who became John Irving, Jane Smiley, T.C. Boyle, Michelle Huneven, Allan Gurganus, Sandra Cisneros, Jayne Anne Phillips, Jennie Fields, Joy Harjo, Joe Haldeman, and many others. It is chock full of insights and a treasure trove of inspiration for all writers, readers, history lovers, and anyone who ever "wanted to be a writer."

"'These people who are characters in my poems, if I wrote them well enough, you can experience what they're living through, what they're going through,' he said. 'It's like a moment of stillness in the chaos, so you can see people's faces, almost in slow motion, as they pass you by.'" In this Arizona Republic profile on 2011 Whiting Award winner Eduardo C. Corral, he describes his journey becoming a poet, from discovering poetry through a school assignment on Beowulf, to his time at the Iowa Writers' Workshop. Corral was in Uruguay this fall as part of an international-writers program run by the University of Iowa when he received the e-mail from the Whiting Foundation telling him he'd won the award. "'I have a dream,' he said, 'of taking my nieces and nephews to the library, going to the bookshelf, pulling [my book] out and saying, 'Who is this?' '" Read more: Poetry opened doors wide for Eduardo Corral

Sponsored in part by the English Department and the Center for Teaching, an exciting week of events associated with “Iowa and Invisible Man: Making Blackness Visible” will begin immediately after Thanksgiving break from Tuesday, November 29, through Saturday, December 3. Events will take place at various locations around campus and will include such discussions as 'Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man—A Roundtable on the Literary Past and Theatrical Future of a Great American Novel' and 'Black Hawkeyes: Midcentury Memories of the University of Iowa'. All events are open to the public. Visit the Iowa and Invisible Man website for more details.

New Yorker staff writer Susan Orlean visited Iowa City to read from her new book, Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend on September 21st. Before her multimedia presentation at the Englert Theatre, she appeared on KRUI's The Lit Show to discuss the book. In addition to discussing Rin Tin Tin's unlikely path to superstardom, Orlean discussed the origins of the German shepherd breed, the reasons why we love watching animals on screen, and the strange twists and turns in her own life as a public figure. "Orlean’s book is not only a canine coming-of-age story—it explores the complexities of modern mythmaking," said Lit Show host Joe Fassler, in his introduction. "At first, we follow the successes and setbacks of a dog-in-real-life, Rin Tin Tin, but gradually Rin’s physical presence dissolves into his media presence, diffusing like a drop of food coloring in water. " Orlean is the author of many books on wide-ranging topics, including Saturday Night, a cultural history of Saturday night, and Red Sox and Bluefish, an exploration of what makes New England, “New England.” Her book The Orchid Thief was adapted into the Oscar-winning movie Adaptation, written by Charlie Kaufman. Listen to the Interview

The Department of English and the Undergraduate Certificate in Writing Program are pleased to host Eula Biss & David Trinidad for a reading and Q&A session this Tuesday, November 8th @ Prairie Lights, 15 S Dubuque St. Eula Biss Q&A: 5:30 - 6:30 PM Eula Biss and Trinidad Reading: 7:00 – 8:00 PM Eula Biss holds an MFA in nonfiction writing from the University of Iowa. Her second book, Notes from No Man's Land, received the Graywolf Press Nonfiction Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award for criticism. Her work has also been recognized by a Pushcart Prize, a Jaffe Writers' Award, and a 21st Century Award from the Chicago Public Library. Her essays have recently appeared in The Best American Nonrequired Reading, The Believer, Gulf Coast, Columbia, Ninth Letter, and Harper's. She teaches writing at Northwestern University. David Trinidad is the author of more than a dozen books, including The Late Show (2007), Phoebe 2002: An Essay in Verse (2003), and Plasticville (2000), a finalist for the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize. He has received awards from the New York Foundation for the Arts, and his work has appeared in numerous periodicals and several anthologies, including Best American Poetry, The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry, and Postmodern American Poetry: A Norton Anthology. Trinidad currently teaches at Columbia College Chicago, where he co-founded the literary journal Court Green. For More Information Contact Daniel Khalastchi 319-384-1328 218 SH daniel-khalastchi@uiowa.edu

The University of Iowa will build upon its superior reputation in creative writing by establishing a new graduate degree in Spanish creative writing. The Board of Regents approved the Master of Fine Arts program today, and the UI will begin enrolling students to start in spring of 2012. UI administrators say the program will cater to a rapidly growing Hispanic audience and will serve as a beacon for students who wish to pursue creative writing opportunities in their first language. "Spanish is not a foreign language anymore. It's a national language, and this program will help many bilingual writers express themselves creatively in both languages," says Mercedes Niño-Murcia, professor and chair of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS). "It will also further expose students, faculty, and the community to a wide array of creative individuals from around the world."

The International Writing Program (IWP) at the University of Iowa will welcome Nobel Prize-winning Nigerian author Wole Soyinka to the UI Sunday, Nov. 6. He will take part in two free, public events: He will receive the Rex Honey African Studies Lectureship Award, presented by the UI African Studies Program, at 3:30 p.m. in Shambaugh Auditorium of the UI Main Library; and he will read from his work at 7:30 p.m. in the Englert Theatre. The African Studies Program, part of UI International Programs, will present the award in memory of faculty member Rex D. Honey to recognize Soyinka's outstanding contribution to world literature and his continuing advocacy of human rights reforms in Nigeria and around the globe. Following the presentation of the award, Soyinka will deliver a lecture. Soyinka, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986, is the author of more than 30 volumes of creative work, including plays, volumes of poetry, and collections of nonfiction, as well as two novels. Read more...

Poets Shane McCrae and Eduardo C. Corral, alumni of the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop, are winners of the 2011 Whiting Writers' Awards, presented in an Oct. 25 ceremony in New York City. This prestigious, $50,000 award recognizes 10 young writers for their extraordinary talent and promise, and is one of the most coveted prizes for up-and-coming writers. The Whiting Writers' Awards have been given annually since 1985 and past recipients include Tobias Wolff, Jeffrey Eugenides, Mary Karr, and UI alumni Michael Cunningham and Kim Edwards -- all winners before they were acclaimed, bestselling authors. Read more

The Englert and Prairie Lights Books are excited to host Susan Orlean on Thursday, October 20 at 8 pm. Orlean will read from her new book "Rin Tin Tin: The Life and The Legend". One of the most creative literary journalists of today, Susan Orlean is a staff writer for The New Yorker and the author of the best-selling book, "The Orchid Thief" (made into the Oscar-winning movie, "Adaptation"). Her latest work, "Rin Tin Tin", tells the story of the great dog actor’s journey from orphaned puppy to movie star and international icon. Almost ten years in the making, Orlean's first original book since "The Orchid Thief", "Rin Tin Tin" is a tour de force of history, human interest, and masterful storytelling. The multimedia event will combine literature, film, video, music to help illuminate the story of the iconic dog. Two tickets and a copy of the book can be purchased for $27, single tickets are $15, and students $10. Tickets may be purchased at the Englert Box Office and Prairie Lights. The Englert Theatre is located at 221 East Washington St., Iowa City. For tickets, the public should call the Box Office at (319) 688-2653. Tickets can also be purchased online at http://englert.org. The event will be streamed live on the Writing University website.

View Full Screen "Leaner than LIght: 12 Frames of Paul Engle" An audio video production of a play by Lisa Schlesinger Produced and edited by Lisa DiFranza Audio engineered by Ben Schmidt View Video A note from playwright Lisa Schlesinger: "At the end of his life, Paul Engle was working on a memoir called Paul Engle Country which, he specifies, wasn’t in chronological order. I imagine that this is because as a poet, Paul Engle conceived of the world in images, and moments of meaning connected by associative imagination rather than chronological time. When I began to research Leaner than Light, I was interested in Hualing Nieh and Paul Engle’s mutual love and their dedication to world literature. I was also interested in how they created a place for voices that otherwise would not be heard and a community where they would be welcomed. Not a dramatic thing, really but miraculous and heroic. When I first envisioned this play, I saw spaces opening for IWP writers to walk through. One person I spoke with said Paul Engle sacrificed his career for the work of others. I’m not sure I agree. Perhaps he made a beautiful and successful career of it. I was also interested in paying homage to Iowa, a place often referred to as the middle of nowhere, but a place that has hosted, nurtured and cultivated countless literary voices and works, both local and global. One of the great moments I had researching this play was sitting with Hualing in her house overlooking the Iowa River, eating dried mango and sharing our love of Iowa. People don’t understand, she said, how many writers come here, nowhere else could you gather so many writers in one place. From a literary standpoint, Iowa is far form the middle of nowhere. And yes, it’s the writers who come; but it is also the Iowa landscape and people that welcome them. I am thrilled that we are able to share this internet audio/visual adaptation of the stage play, Leaner than Light, which received its first public staged reading in the wake of the Iowa flood in the October of 2008 and its staged premier in October of 2009. I hope viewers are able to get a sense of the staged production, but more, to get insight into Paul Engle’s life and his amazing gift to Iowa and to world literature." There are six Paul Engle's poems featured in this streaming version of the play: American Child I Heritage Divination Question Dedication These are the Things The Leaner Than Light Program (PDF) View a slideshow of the stage production two years ago

As part of a national tour presented by Copper Canyon Press to mark the publication of Push Open the Window, a contemporary Chinese poetry anthology bringing together over a hundred poems by some of China’s most important poets born after 1945, Xi Chuan and Zhou Zan, two of China’s leading poets will be visiting Iowa City for a bilingual reading today, 8 pm, at the Shambaugh House. Zhou Zan, a native of Jiangsu Province, born in 1968, has published poems, criticism, and a translation of Margaret Atwood’s poetry. Editor of the prominent women’s poetry journal Wings, she was recently a visiting scholar at Columbia University. Xi Chuan was born Liu Jun in 1963, and is the author of many prize-winning collections of poetry, essays, and translations. The editor of Dangdai Gouji Shitan (Contemporary Poetry International) and a past participant in the University of Iowa’s International Writing Program, he has been a visiting professor at New York University and at the University of Victoria. He teaches classical Chinese literature at Beijing Central Art Academy. On Friday October 7th, at 10 AM, professor of modern Chinese literature Jennifer Feeley and poet Christopher Merrill will open up a public conversation with the poets. Both events will take place at the Shambaugh House (430 N. Clinton). This anthology is part of an international literary exchange between the National Endowment for the Arts and the General Administration of Press and Publication in the People’s Republic of China. More info...

Last week, Justin Torres, a 2010 graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, returned to Iowa City to read from his debut novel We the Animals. Before his reading at Prairie Lights, Torres appeared on the University of Iowa radio station KRUI's program The Lit Show to discuss the book and its path to print. The talk took place from 2-3 PM on September 21st. "The book is a meditation on a pronoun: we," writes Joe Fassler, host of The Lit Show. "Three brothers move as one through a rundown town in Upstate New York, their six arms throwing rocks, hurling open-palm slaps, pulling close in a fighting, biting embrace. Their parents, Ma and Paps, had them at fourteen and sixteen. Their tumultuous relationship bursts with laughter and sobbing and long, unexplained disappearances. While the boys look on in anguish and wonder, their parents kiss each other with their fists--and with their kisses, they wound." Torres' fierce vision of childhood has garnered high praise in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and the Chicago Tribune, among others. He is currently a Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford. His fiction has been published in The New Yorker, Glimmer Train, Tin House, and elsewhere. We the Animals has recently been reviewed in The Onion's A.V. Club.