The backstory begins like this: Imagine Other Worlds with Authors (I.O.W.A.), a yearly multi-genre book signing event that began in the mid-2010s to uplift and highlight regional writers, was once plagued by the presence of a soda machine stuck in a musical loop. Throughout their entire event, the thing repeated and repeated and repeated. So, […]
Book Reviews
Book Review: ‘Thinking Inside the Box’ by Adrienne Raphel
Book Review: ‘Kink’ edited by R.O. Kwon and Garth Greenwell

A 2018 study by sex toy company EdenFantasys revealed that 40 percent of respondents considered themselves kinky, with over one-third claiming a specific fetish. Still, there’s an overwhelming dearth of affirming literature out there: There’s a lot of exoticizing, quite a bit of shaming, but very little normalization. Enter Kink, a new anthology out Feb. […]
Book Review: ‘Sweeter Voices Still: An LGBTQ Anthology From Middle America’

The mythology of “the Heartland” (also called “Middle America” or the “flyover states”) is usually rooted in archaic abstractions such as “traditional family values” and conservative ideals. These parts of the American landscape are described as if they are closed off by narrow boundaries, with rigid attitudes imposed upon the diverse populations inhabiting them. As […]
Book Review: ‘Lucky’s Feet’ by Thomas M. Cook and Olayinka O. Adegbehingbe

In the 1950s, the University of Iowa was the setting for groundbreaking work being done on the condition of clubfoot, a congenital deformity which causes an infant’s foot or feet to turn inward. When left untreated, the condition — which affects one in every thousand births, the vast majority of which are in developing countries […]
Book Review: ‘You Again’ by Debra Jo Immergut

The em-dash is by far my favorite punctuation. It’s useful as a break, a pivot point: It comes in handy often at Little Village, as we believe ellipses should only indicate removed material. The casual “pause ellipses” that pepper social media are a no-go in our stories and interviews, so that elapsed time, that silent […]
Book Review: ‘Love and Corn and Whatnot’ by John M. Donovan

Hillsboro Publishing Parker Graham is uncertain in the ways that only a recent high school graduate can be. In Love and Corn and Whatnot, John M Donovan revisits the world of his earlier novel Trombone Answers, but the arc of the main character’s coming of age stands alone and cohesive for new readers. As Parker […]
Book Review: ‘Blackspace: On the Poetics of an Afrofuture’ by Anaïs Duplan

Published by Black Ocean When Center for Afrofuturist Studies founding curator Anaïs Duplan first launched that initiative in Iowa City in 2016, he told Little Village, “It’s about making it safe to feel uncomfortable and then trying to make it better.” That philosophy echoes throughout the twists and turns of his latest work, Blackspace: On […]
Book Review: ‘Abandoned Iowa: Vacant Heartland’ by Mitch Nicholson

The origins of Abandoned Iowa can be traced back to the fall of 2010, when author Mitch Nicholson was still an English undergraduate student at a small private college in Marion County. Academic pressures combined with a hot, stuffy dorm room and the claustrophobic setting of a small campus nearly proved to be unbearable and […]
Book Review: ‘Iowa Supper Clubs’ by Megan Bannister

One never knows when the inspiration for an unforgettable road trip might happen. But you will most likely experience many of those unignorable “let’s go right now” moments that will get you to hit the road while you read Iowa Supper Clubs, released in August from The History Press. Megan Bannister adds the historical flavor […]
Book Review: ‘Driving a Table Down’ by Barry Phipps

Recently, I did one of those frivolous lists one makes on social media — “My Ten Favorite Things You May Not Know About Me” — and I listed “dreaming and planning of road trips.” Like many, I had resentfully cancelled my 2020 holiday plans as the COVID-19 pandemic stretched further than anyone imagined. Barry Phipps’ […]
Book Review: ‘Marking Time’ by Cindy Hadish

I remember with joy the first DCI (Drum Corps International) tournament that I attended. It was a DCI East Championship, I believe, in Allentown, Pennsylvania, sometime in the mi-1990s. I admired from afar, a huge fan of participating in marching band but, as a clarinetist, having no inroad to the drums, color guard or brass […]