Marvin Bell, first Poet Laureate of Iowa, longtime Iowa Writers’ Workshop professor and first poetry editor of The Iowa Review, died on Monday, Dec. 14 after a months-long illness. He was 83. Bell earned his MFA from the Writers’ Workshop prior to his 40-year tenure teaching there. His students included such luminaries as James Galvin, […]
Iowa City poetry
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Best of the CRANDIC Spotlight: Caleb “The Negro Artist” Rainey
Caleb Rainey was voted Best Poet/Spoken Word Artist in Little Village’s 2020 Best of the CRANDIC awards. “The oldest poem I can think of was one in elementary school. Obviously, it rhymed,” Best Poet of the CRANDIC Caleb “The Negro Artist” Rainey said in a recent phone call, laughing. “But the poem that I count […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
The world’s in crisis, but poetry is more accessible than ever in Iowa City
“Poetry is somewhere between jazz and bird call and computer code and ornate lacquer box and hot wrought iron and prayer and primal scream,” said Lisa Roberts, founding director of Iowa City Poetry. For seven years, Roberts has collaborated with artists around one of the most prestigious (and arguably elitist) writing capitals in the world […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
#StayHome: Indigenous Peoples Art Gallery goes virtual during COVID-19
As any discussion of the ongoing pandemic should note, small businesses, organizations and communities have, in many cases, seen more pronounced effects from COVID-19 than their larger counterparts. These entities, not usually included in major media discourse, nevertheless face the same questions as the world at large: How do we transition our pre-COVID lives into […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Love Letters: Keep that which brings joy
Flawless seashells tiny as fingernails,
prickly cockle and calico scallop
keyhole limpet and kitten’s paw,
we found while walking Florida beaches
the Christmas we shared a house
with our three kids and their friends.
Posted inCommunity/News
Poetry City Actualized: A look back at the birth of an Iowa City-based literary movement
Welcome to Iowa City, aka Poetry City, where key Actualist sites have been targeted by urban development for over forty years. What’s Actualism? It’s a poetry…
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Interview: Poet Stephen Sturgeon and book artist Candida Pagan’s unique approach to publishing
Local poet Stephen Sturgeon’s recent piece, The Ship, details the macabre account of the narrator’s travels down an unnamed river; with the narrative meandering…
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Farewell Strange Cage: Russell Jaffe’s high-energy poetry reading series comes to a close
For three years, Little Village art columnist Russell Jaffe has energized the poetry scene in Iowa City with his reading series Strange Cage…
