Author Tim Johnston visits Prairie Lights on Thursday at 7 p.m. to read from Descent, a novel that has been roundly praised for both it’s thrilling storytelling…
creative writing
Becoming a Ghost: Falling Down
‘Falling Down’ is the eighth installment in Daniel Boscaljon’s literary nonfiction series Becoming A Ghost: The wind desires to continue dancing, attempts to slow my descent, but I plummet downward undeterred in deference to gravity’s unyielding grip.
Becoming a Ghost: Falling Out
All movement makes us aware that we hasten toward our death in a dynamic vector, and I see mine immanently before me. Time compacts. Seeing your “life” flash before your eyes before death is not a tiresome replay listing mundane causes and effects of a mundane life. Only a handful of potent encounters and choices define you. I am smelling my grandfather’s coffee in the mornings. I am breaking up with my first girlfriend. I am driving my first car. I am accepting my new job.
Hot Tin Roof: Village Dogs
Today, we are going to watch Judas explode. According to some reports, the Greek economy shrank by 23% between 2008 and 2013. All the popular economists stood around and scratched their chins. A world record. No one’s ever seen those numbers. Last November, the unemployment rate stood at an outstanding 28%. The homeless count went through the roof, and then off the roof as suicides littered the streets. The health care system almost shut down while black tar heroin became the new currency. Every week, protests erupted like fire in the major cities as aggressive measures were taken by the European Union. The people pleaded like dogs from the cracked and crowded sidewalks. Winter was coming, but all the coats were burned up.
Becoming a Ghost: Falling Into
River runs slowly in the verdant valley near the ghost town of flooded buildings, winding by the boathouse where we laughed through lunch, under bridges and traintracks…
Becoming a Ghost: Falling From
‘Falling From’ is the fifth installment in Daniel Boscaljon’s literary nonfiction series Becoming A Ghost. The previous installments can be found here. The ground beneath beckons like a friend, uncannily familiar. Why? Did the ground support our kisses under the star-filled cold? Did it intimate my future embrace of dust by dust? I realize that […]
Hot Tin Roof: Wait
It’s time for your annual mammogram, which, in this case, is over two years since your last one. Doctors say you don’t need one every year now, although different studies come out all the time which tell you one thing, then another. You opt to pay the extra 60 dollars this time to get the touted 3-D imaging that is now offered at the University Hospital, although you debate whether it’s worth it or not.
Interview: Charles D’Ambrosio, new Writers’ Workshop faculty member, reads at Prairie Lights
Charles D’Ambrosio, a new faculty member of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and the award-winning author of The Dead Fish Museum and The Point…
Becoming a Ghost: Losing Weight
‘Losing Weight’ is the fourth installment in Daniel Boscaljon’s literary nonfiction series Becoming A Ghost. …
Hot Tin Roof: In the house of birds
Hot Tin Roof is a program to showcase current literary work produced in Iowa City. The series is organized and juried by representatives of three Iowa City-based cultural advocacy organizations: The Englert Theatre, Iowa City UNESCO City of Literature and Little Village magazine.
Hot Tin Roof: From the Hitchhiking Journals
Hot Tin Roof is a program to showcase current literary work produced in Iowa City. The series is organized and juried by representatives of three Iowa City-based cultural advocacy organizations: The Englert Theatre, Iowa City UNESCO City of Literature and Little Village magazine.
Becoming a ghost: Losing Time
‘Becoming a Ghost’ is a literary nonfiction series by UI English instructor Daniel Boscaljon. Revelers rush in the empty space between the buildings. Liars find dark lairs, their carefree bodies careening past the playground intended for careful toddlers. I stared downward, avoiding eyes bright with the allure of the everyday world and its promise of […]

