Cheryl Peck reads from her collection of short stories, Fat Girls and Lawn Chairs. Peck addresses the difficulties of being both a large woman and a lesbian in today’s society. When asked how she deals with society’s pressures, Peck responds:...
Kent Haruf reads from his novel, Eventide, which is a sequel to his previous novel, Plainsong. Haruf acknowledges that while his growing up in small Colorado towns influenced his novels, he ultimately aims to write about “universal matters.”...
In memory of Pulitzer Prize winning poet Donald Justice, this is a special edition of Live From Prairie Lights that was first broadcast in 1995. Donald Justice read from his book, New and Selected poems. Justice died August 6th, 2004 at the age of...
The author of The Stones of Summer Dow Mossman reads from a republished edition of the book. Mossman is at the heart of the film Stone Reader by Mark Moskowitz. The book was written more than thirty years ago, had gone out of print and Mossman had...
Arda Collins and Jonathan Thirkield, alumni of the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop who have recently received major honors, read at Prairie Lights Bookstore. Collins' "It Is Daylight" was selected by Louise Gluck for the Yale Series of...
The Wapsipinicon Almanac is featured as editor Tim Fay and contributors read selections from the latest issue. An annual program event, this always promises to be an entertaining and fun evening and this one was no exception! An article in the Des...
Ben Lerner read the following untitled prose poems from Angle of Yaw; the first lines of these poems are listed below, in order.
"When night falls in the middle west"
"Reading is important"
"He had enough respect for painting"
"The artist...
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 temperature dropped 80 degrees in one day. ...
Timothy Fay reads an essay from the Wapsipinicon Almanac about Animosa's new public library, vegetation along Shooting Star Road, and ice-skating on the Wapsipinicon River. Tom Metcalff created the cover art for the almanac, Will Thompson reads...
Authors Peter Manseau and Jeff Sharlet read excerpts from their book Killing the Buddha: A Heretics Bible; an eccentric and original collection of stories considering the facets of true belief.
Works Read: "Psalm of Heartland, Kansas" and "Psalm...
With an introduction by Cole Swensen, G.C. Waldrep reads selections from his first book of poetry, Goldbeater's Skin, in which he uses his extensive background in history to shape beautiful imagery and emotion. Titles of some pieces read: Against...
Frederick Turner reads from his new novel "1929" which begins at the Bix Fest in the Quad Cities, but then travels back in time to present a fictionalized portrait of the self-destructive artist and the incendiary "jazz age.
Elizabeth Berg, author of thirteen highly popular bestselling novels, which include, Talk Before Sleep and Range of Motion, reads from her latest book, The Year of Pleasures.
Poet Jerry Harp reads from his second collection of poems, Gatherings, winner of the 2004 Robert McGovern Prize fro Ashland University Press. Harp teaches at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon and is currently working on a booklength study...
Jim Fergus, the author of the highly praised, One Thousand White Women: The Journals of May Dodd, reads from his second novel The Wild Girl: The Notebooks of Ned Giles 1932. Fergus sets his based-on-fact book in the American West, during the early...
Adam Mansbach, author of Shackling Water reads from his highly charged new novel that takes on white privilege, racism, hip-hop, and baseball, Angry Black White Boy or the Miscegenation of Macon Detorney.
Columbia Academic Peter Pouncey reads from his first novel. Rules for Old Men Waiting, a touching thoughtful novel of England spanning two world wars. “A tender, beautifully expressed rumination on love and loss by a highly intelligent and...