Prairie Lights will host author Jamie Quatro on Monday, Feb. 5 at 7 p.m. for a presentation of her novel in conversation with novelist Garth Greenwell. Quatro has quickly developed a reputation for being an author of penetrating acumen and lyrical grace. […]
Celine Watkins is 68 years old, suffering from arthritis and emphysema and brokenhearted over the loss of her two sisters — one older, one younger — in quick succession. She is also a private eye, a crack shot and by turns fearsome and consoling. […]
Jólabókaflóð, roughly translated as “Yule book flood” and pronounced (again, roughly) /yo-la-bok-a-flot/, originated in Iceland during World War II. Paper, unlike many other commodities, was not rationed during the war, making books a perfect option for gift exchanges. […]
Reza Aslan will appear on Thursday, Dec. 7 at the First United Methodist Church (214 E Jefferson St, Iowa City) for a conversation with Iowa Public Radio host Charity Nebbe about his newest book, God: A Human History. […]
Iowa City Book Festival Presents: Jon Kerstetter Prairie Lights — Saturday, Oct. 13 at 1 p.m. In July of 2003, Jon Kerstetter, a U.S. Army National Guard combat physician, found himself in a rather bizarre situation. Despite a lack of training or certification in forensic pathology, Kerstetter was commanded to identify the dead bodies of […]
Actor, director and writer Bruce Campbell has crafted a career out of a certain kind of off-beat character. As an actor, he doesn’t disappear into a role, but rather imbues each with an almost ludicrous uniqueness, a deeply specific sense of self. This kind of interplay between the fantasy and reality of his existence is a perfect precursor to his alternate career as a memoirist.
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Among the Living and the Dead: A Tale of Exile and Homecoming on the War Roads of Europe, the recently published book by University of Iowa Assistant Professor Inara Verzemnieks, explores her family’s diverging journeys as war descended on their Latvian home — resulting in trauma and loss that would reverberate through the generations. […]
Vermont senator and former Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is coming to Iowa City. Prairie Lights is hosting his appearance at Hancher Auditorium on Thursday night, August 31. Tickets will be available through the Hancher box office starting on July 14 at 10 a.m. […]
Author and activist Taylor Brorby is a longtime voice for progressive environmentalism. Hailing originally from North Dakota, he brings a passionate love of the earth to his writing. Last year, as co-editor of the anthology Fracture, he spoke to Little Village about the value of creating new perspectives — in his more recent work, he does just that. […]
Arthur Russell Week various venues — Tuesday, April 25 through Friday, April 28 When Arthur Russell was a teenager, he ran away from his home in Oskaloosa, Iowa. A pioneer in cross-genre composition during the 1970s and ’80s, Russell released just one solo album during his lifetime: World of Echo in 1986. He collaborated with […]
LA-based writer Stephanie Danler’s recently-released ‘Sweetbitter’ spins the tale of a young twenty-something looking to find her way in the world after graduation. The story is told through the lens of front-of-house restaurant work, a job that proves to be both Exhilarating and exhausting for the novel’s heroine, Tess, and one that Danler experienced first-hand in her formative early twenties. […]
Several years ago — or, in storybook parlance, Once Upon a Time — a long-lost creek in northeast Iowa came back to life. It did so with the help of Mike Osterholm, who acted on a hint and a hunch to add the nearly-forgotten waterway into his efforts to return an old cornfield to the […]