Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
IOWA SUMMER WRITING FESTIVAL
revive your novel at a famous writing school
IOWA CITY, IOWA
What are the best things and worst things in your life and when are you
going to get around to whispering them or shouting them?
—Ray Bradbury,
1967 graduate of the Writers' Workshop, University of Iowa
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The Iowa Summer Writing Festival is not a social event. Oh sure, there are a couple shared
meals and a reception on Monday night, but the only friend the attendees of the renowned
writing workshop hope to make is their muse.
It's nice (although intimidating at times) meeting the stellar writers who lead the one-
week and weekend workshops, but they're not necessarily the main draw for the summer's
1,500 attendees. Instead, people come to the University of Iowa so they can come face to face
with their own strong, heroic voices.
The Iowa Summer Writing Festival is an offshoot of the famous Writers' Workshop, the
country's first creative writing degree program and the model for MFA (master of fine arts)
writing programs everywhere.
Just hanging out at the university can make you feel literary. Between the famous campus;
the nearby Prairie Lights, a fantastic independent bookstore that regularly features on Na-
tional Public Radio; and the Iowa Avenue Literary Walk, lined by bronze relief panels of the
workshop's many Pulitzer prize winners, it's impossible not to lure a muse or two. Flannery
O'Connor, John Irving, Tennessee Williams, and Kurt Vonnegut are just a few of the folks who
famously honed their literary voices on the picturesque campus that hugs the Iowa River.
