The oldest creative writing program in the country, and still regarded the best. More than forty Pulitzer Prize winners. North America's only UNESCO City of Literature. How did the midwestern college town of Iowa City, Iowa become the capital of creative writing in America? It's an unlikely story of literary ambition, academic innovation, and a promising young poet who became a cultural entrepreneur.
Iowa City, Iowa has been named one of three world "Cities of Literature" by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). It could be said that the city's literary reputation began in 1936 with the Iowa Writers' Workshop, and was promoted to world prominence by poet Paul Engle.
Over 25 years, Buchanan interviewed what she described as "special women and men," 152 people on 149 programs produced at the Iowa City Public Library for the Library Channel on Mediacom cable television.
Her two programs, "Tell Me Your Story" and "One of a Kind" tell stories of women and men who contributed and continue to contribute to making Iowa City the unique place it is. Buchanan concluded her run with a September 2014 interview of Joan Cook of Elder Services.
The Paul Engle Center for Neighborhood Arts opened its doors on Sunday, Dec. 2, to celebrate the memory of one of Iowa's most accomplished writers. Community leaders and art enthusiasts read from Paul Engle's writings about the holidays, including seasonal poems and memoirs of Christmases he spent growing up in Wellington Heights. Participants included KCRG-TV news anchor Beth Malicki, Iowa State Representative Tyler Olson and several students from Johnson Elementary School of the Arts.
This is a video from the opening exhibition of abstract expressionist painter Abby Jones which took place Saturday, April 4, 2009 at the Paul Engle Center for Neighborhood Arts in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The influence of such classic abstract expressionists like Mark Rothko and Jackson Pollock are evident in her work, but Abby Jones takes the form in her own direction. The result is art that is both interpretive and deeply personal, full of vibrant color.
Landfall Festival 2009, Legion Arts' second annual weeklong festival of world music, featuring some 50 musicians from ten countries, kicked off Sunday, September 20 and continued through Sunday, September 27 in Greene Square Park.
The members of Los de Abajo met in high school with a mission to make music that was 100% danceable and cathartic and with a message about the political and social situation they are living through in Mexico.
The galleries at the CSPS Theatre were home to "Matters Arising", a rotating exhibit of artworks by two dozen artists. Half of the artists are from Eastern Iowa and experienced the floods of 2008. Half are from the Gulf Coast and lived through Hurricane Katrina in 2005. They share the experience of losing their home, studio, or work — and in some cases all three — in the deluge that resulted from a natural disaster.
The works in the exhibit, which range from drawing and painting to sculpture, ceramics, photography, video, T-shirts and posters, take a variety of approaches to the subject. Some works respond to the flooding. Others show the direct impact of the water. Still others simply demonstrate the persistence and determination of the individual artist to continue creating, despite obstacles.
Legion Arts' second annual festival of world music, featuring some 50 musicians from ten countries, kicked off with world renowned DJ Cheb i Sabbah making his Iowa debut in Greene Square Park! Cheb i Sabbah is a legendary Algerian born, San Francisco DJ who spins what he calls an Outernational Mix of dance music from the oasis of Arabia, Africa, Asia. A hybrid of Hindustani classical music and contemporary mixology, Sabbah taps into something timeless and without borders.
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