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It’s a wild weekend up and down the CRANDIC, with ways to keep both your body and mind active while still managing to keep you entertained! Don’t miss the events of the second annual Mic Check Poetry Fest (see full collection), especially the chance to rank global poets in Slam O Vision International. Indigenous voices abound, with a lecture from Osage artist Anita Fields at the UI, Larissa Fasthorse’s ‘The Thanksgiving Play’ at Cornell College and Great Plains Action Society’s Truthsgiving at the Englert. And you can celebrate Iowa City superstar Kurt Vonnegut’s 100th birthday by taking in a screening of ‘Slaughterhouse Five.’ Top pick of the weekend? Treat yourself to Bijou After Hours screening of ‘The Wall’ on 35mm, the perfect way to decompress after a week of thinking about politics.

by Sarah Elgatian, Sep 28th

Iowa City Poetry’s Mic Check Poetry Festival will return Nov. 11-12 after organizers Caleb “The Negro Artist” Rainey and Lisa Roberts received what Rainey called a “phenomenal showing” of support and enthusiasm last year. The November festival will be only two days this year instead of three, but it will include expanded offerings and an entirely new line up of performers and instructors.

by Sarah Elgatian, Nov 8

508 Press is an independent press out of Iowa City that specializes in small runs of often event-specific poetry. Garrett created a reading series where he prints selections of the poems and stories shared for the evening’s attendees. Every print is one-of-a-kind and functions as a souvenir.

by Genevieve Trainor, Nov 7

“In 2013, I played my first solo set (as Underwater Escape From the Black Hole) at one of the Zeitgeist fests that were held in Boone,” Mathias Timmerman, of Des Moines label 5CM Recordings, said in an email. “And I ended up meeting a lot of other folks who were running little DIY labels, putting out tapes and releases for the weird little experimental projects that they were currently in.”