Nonfiction
Jeremy Mercer Reading, November, 2005
Jeremy Mercer reads from and discusses his memoir, Time Was Soft There: A Paris Sojourn at Shakespeare & Co.. He goes on to detail the events that led up to… more
Mark Blumberg Reading, November, 2005
Mark Blumberg discusses his work, Basic Instinct: The Genesis of Behavior. Blumberg, a neuroscientist at the University of Iowa, begins by discussing various popular culture headlines dealing with genetics and… more
Kay Redfield Jamison Reading, October, 2005
Kay Redfield Jamison discusses and reads from her book entitled Exuberance: the Passion for Life. Jamison points out that the state of “exuberance” is rarely studied in psychology; psychologists tend… more
Paul Collins Reading, October, 2005
Paul Collins reads from his nonfiction work, The Trouble with Tom: The Strange Afterlife and Times of Thomas Paine. Collins explains how his coming across an article within an old… more
Bill Thompson, Julie Zickefoose, and Donald E. Kroodsma Reading, October, 2005
Bill Thompson and Julie Zickefoose discuss their book entitled Identify Yourself: The 50 Most Common Birding Identification Challenges. They explain how the book evolved from a column that Thompson edits… more
Marilyn Abildskov Reading, March, 2005
Marilyn Abildskov reads from her memoir entitled The Men in My Country. Abildskov gives a brief context of her memoir, claiming that it is about the time she spent teaching… more
Jennifer Baumgardner and Amy Richards Reading, March, 2005
Jennifer Baumgardner and Amy Richards discuss their book entitled Grassroots: A Field Guide for Feminist Activism. Baumgardner and Richards discuss their early days working together at Ms. magazine, and their… more
Suzanne Lebsock Reading, February, 2005
Suzanne Lebsock reads from her work, Murder in Virginia: Southern Justice on Trial. Lebsock, who considers herself a social historian, details the 1895 ax murder of a white woman in… more
David Laskin Reading, January, 2005
David Laskin discusses his nonfiction work, The Children’s Blizzard, which details the blizzard that hit the Midwest on January 12, 1888. Laskin details the terrible storm, pointing out that the… more
Patricia Foster Reading, November, 2004
Patricia Foster reads two excerpts from her book of essays entitled Just Beneath My Skin: Autobiography and Self-Discovery. Foster, a professor in the Nonfiction Writing Program at the University of… more
Thomas Frank Reading, October, 2004
Thomas Frank reads selections from his book entitled What’s the Matter With Kansas?: How Conservatives Won the Heart of America. Frank goes on to detail a phenomenon he terms “The… more
Mona Smith Reading, October, 2004
Mona Smith discusses and reads from her non-fiction work, Becoming Something: the Story of Canada Lee. Her book outlines the “meteoric rise” and “precipitous fall” of African American actor Canada… more
Lucia Watson and Teresa Marrone Reading, September, 2004
Lucia Watson begins by discussing her book entitled Savoring the Seasons of the Northern Heartland. Watson who is chef and proprietor of Lucia’s Restaurant in Minneapolis, Minnesota, discusses the importance… more
Year of the Arts and Humanities Kickoff Celebration: The Future of Nonfiction, September, 2004
Christopher Merrill introduces Robin Hemley who begins by reading his essay “No Pleasure But Meanness.” Hemley discusses the difference between memoirs and general nonfiction. He is drawn to writers who… more
Sandra Scofield Reading, June, 2004
Sandra Scofield reads from her memoir entitled Occasional Sin.
moreTim Tyson Reading, June, 2004
Tim Tyson reads from his memoir, “Blood Done Sign My Name.” Tyson describes his childhood in Oxford, North Carolina, and the murder of an African American man by Tyson’s white… more
Faith Adielé Reading, April, 2004
Faith Adielé reads excerpts from her memoir entitled Meeting Faith: the Forest Journals of a Black Buddhist Nun. Adielé, a woman of both Scandinavian and Nigerian descent, discusses her time… more
Christopher Merrill Reading, April, 2004
The author reads excerpts of Only the Nails Remain, a nonfiction book about his work and travels in the former Republic of Yugoslavia and his involvement with the literary demimonde… more
Amy Stewart Reading, April, 2004
Author Amy Stewart discusses her nonfiction work, The Earth Moved: On the Remarkable Achievements of Earthworms. Stewart, an avid gardener, notes that she first became interested in earthworms during a… more
Donald Morrill Reading, April, 2004
Donald Morrill reads a selection from his memoir entitled The Untouched Minutes. Morrill briefly explains the book, pointing out that it is based on a home intrusion that he and… more
John D’Emilio Reading, February, 2004
John D’Emilio reads from his nonfiction book, Lost Prophets: the Life and Times of Bayard Rustin. D’Emilio discusses Rustin’s life as an African American homosexual civil rights leader in the… more
Peter Manseau and Jeff Sharlet Reading, February, 2004
Peter Manseau and Jeff Sharlet read excerpts from their book entitled Killing the Buddha: a heretic’s Bible. During a brief question and answer session, Manseau and Sharlet discuss their online… more
Mary Swander Reading, August, 2003
Before she reads from her memoir, The Desert Pilgrim, Mary Swander explains the circumstances that led to the writing of the book. After a devastating car accident and a subsequent… more
Janusz Bardach Memorial Reading, September, 2002
The second half of a memorial reading honoring Janusz Bardach, a long-time faculty member at the University of Iowa and IWP contributor. Katie Gleeson who helped Bardach pen his memoir,… more
David Rosenthal, Nu Nu Yee, and Piotr Sliwinski Reading, October, 2000
Writers’ Workshop student David Rosenthal reads poems from his manuscript, Tickling Catastrophe. Burmese fiction writer Nu Nu Yee greets the audience in English and Burmese, and shares the events that… more
U Pe Myint Interview, January, 1998
U Pe Myint describes his former career as a doctor and his present work as an author, editor, and translator. Myint discusses the cultural diversiy of Burma and the role… more
Gundega Repše Interview, October, 1996
Clark Blaise and Gundega Repše discuss the literary culture of post-Soviet era Latvia. She describes the influence of modernism and post-modernism, as well as the challenges of making a living… more
Buket Uzuner Interview, September, 1996
Buket Uzuner describes her readership and feminist aspects of her work. She relates the political unrest in Turkey as well as the country’s identification with Europe and with Islam. The… more
Big Bang Cosmology: Much Ado about Nothing, April, 1986
William Carroll discusses differing accounts for the creation or origins of the universe and presents theories that attempt to examine conditions prior to, and during, the big bang.
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