Iowa City Public Library
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Iowa City Public Library
123 S. Linn St. Iowa City, IA 52240
Upcoming Events at Iowa City Public Library
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Iowa City Book Festival: Chris Pio - Nicknames & Mascots
The Iowa City Book Festival presents author Chris Pio, from Cedar Rapids, who discusses his “Nicknames and Mascots” series which describes the origins, evolution and relevant meaning of collegiate athletic team nicknames and the colorful, physical mascot characters that represent the schools. 2025-09-27 15:00:00 -0500
Iowa City Public LibraryIowa City -
Iowa City Book Festival: Steve Kemp - An Exaltation of Parks
America’s national parks are facing unprecedented challenges. With visitation pressures mounting and the National Park Service struggling to keep up, author and former park ranger Steve Kemp looks toward one exceptionally effective historical example of conservation philanthropy and park building—the collaboration between John D. Rockefeller Jr. and NPS legends Stephen Mather, Horace Albright, and Arno Cammerer. Kemp’s latest book, An Exaltation of Parks reveals the inspiring story of this collaboration, showing how the partnership transformed some of America’s most cherished national parks, including Acadia, Grand Teton, Great Smoky Mountains, Yellowstone, and Yosemite. It recounts Rockefeller’s lifelong dedication to conservation, digging into his own pockets and toiling as a volunteer to achieve his goals for converting private land into public use. Bringing to life the history and significance of America’s most magnificent landscapes, this volume is both a tribute to past conservation victories and a call to action for the future, emphasizing the need for continued vigilance to preserve these national treasures for generations to come. 2025-09-27 20:00:00 -0500
Iowa City Public LibraryIowa City -
Iowa City Book Festival: Donika Kelly - The Natural Order of Things
What does a life look like on the other side of survival, and can the one who survived come to recognize that she did? Donika Kelly’s poetry is known for its resonant, unflinching confrontations with trauma and inheritance, translated through myth and nature. The Natural Order of Things expands these explorations into a new realm: one defined by joy and connection. It is an ode to companionship with people, animals, and our planet, and reveals the reparative power of intimacy. In poems inventive, playful, and formally nimble, Kelly pays homage to the voices and people she comes from, the songs of her lineage. Other poems follow the early stirrings of love to erotic transcendence with the lover and the self. Throughout, Kelly finds mirror and marvel in nature, art, and precious friendships. Though it once seemed impossible, she realizes a surprising place for herself, a rightness in the larger world. Donika Kelly is the author of Bestiary, winner of the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award and the Kate Tufts Discovery Award, and The Renunciations, winner of the Anisfield Wolf Book Award and a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. 2025-09-28 20:00:00 -0500
Iowa City Public LibraryIowa City -
Iowa City Book Festival: John Warner - More than Words: How to Think About Writing in the Age of AI
In the age of artificial intelligence, drafting an essay is as simple as typing a prompt and pressing enter. What does this mean for the art of writing? According to longtime writing teacher John Warner: not very much. More Than Words argues that generative AI programs like ChatGPT not only can kill the student essay but should, since these assignments don’t challenge students to do the real work of writing. To Warner, writing is thinking—discovering your ideas while trying to capture them on a page—and feeling—grappling with what it fundamentally means to be human. The fact that we ask students to complete so many assignments that a machine could do is a sign that something has gone very wrong with writing instruction. More Than Words calls for us to use AI as an opportunity to reckon with how we work with words—and how all of us should rethink our relationship with writing. Co-Presented by the University of Iowa School of Journalism and Mass Communication 2025-09-28 20:15:00 -0500
Iowa City Public LibraryIowa City -
ICPLFF Pop Up Book Sale During Iowa City Book Festival
Join us for a pay what you can used book sale in the Iowa City Public Library Lobby during the Iowa City Book Festival! 2025-07-02 15:00:00 -0500
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Iowa City Book Festival: Art Cullen - We Crapped in Our Nest
We have fouled our nest over the past half century in a way that was almost unavoidable, given our history of seeking domination — first over the Indigenous people of the Western World, then over their land. Native people for millennia lived with the land in a vital relationship. Europeans set out to transform that relationship brutally, and this destruction has reached a head. We simply cannot go on like this, washing our soil down the river while the planet bakes, ignoring our own immigration story. As Art writes, “Fifty years around a small town amid the teeming waves of golden corn, a lot has changed, but corn remains king, just like when we were in school. But the place we knew is gone, that world of family farms and the Saturday livestock auction. We are the poorer for it. This is how it went down, or at least how I put it down, in notes compiled over this strange time from Irving Street just up from the lake in the small town we called home.” 2025-09-28 14:00:00 -0500
Iowa City Public LibraryIowa City -
Arts & Crafts Bazaar Makers Celebration
The ICPL Arts & Crafts Bazaar Maker's Celebration will be a festive event with treats and drinks, holiday music, and the company of other Library supporters on December 5 from 6:00-7:30 pm. The party is available to all ICPL Staff, Supporters, Crafters and Artists contributing to the Bazaar to celebrate their contributions. Arts and Crafts Donations can be made until December 5th, 2025 Craft items will NOT be for sale, but we will be previewing all the fantastic items available at the Bazaar and some books will be available for purchase. 2025-07-02 07:30:00 -0500Iowa City Public LibraryIowa City -
Arts & Crafts Bazaar
The Arts & Crafts Bazaar is the Iowa City Public Library Friends Foundation’s annual winter fundraiser for the Iowa City Public Library. The Arts & Crafts Bazaar features handmade items donated by Library supporters, as well as a used book sale, with all sales benefitting the Iowa City Public Library. If you are interested in donating handcrafted items and for more information, please fill out the donation form. There will be a Friday evening Open House Celebration on December 5 from 5:30-7:00 pm. The ICPL Arts & Crafts Bazaar Open House will be a festive event with treats and drinks, holiday music, and the company of other Library supporters to celebrate Crafters and their contributions. The party is available to all ICPL Staff, Supporters, Crafters and Artists contributing to the Bazaar. Arts and Crafts Donations can be made until December 5th, 2025 If you have any questions, please email [email protected]. 2025-07-02 15:00:00 -0500Iowa City Public LibraryIowa City -
Big Book Sale
Join us for a used book sale! Shop an assortment of fiction, non-fiction, cookbooks, young adult, juvenile fiction, children’s books, DVDs and audiobooks. All sales support the Library and its programs, collections, and facilities. Visit www.supporticpl.org for more information about book sales and supporting the Library. Please Note: Scanners and scanning apps are not allowed at book sales. If you need disability-related accommodations in order to participate in this event, please contact the Library. 2025-08-07 19:30:00 -0500
Iowa City Public LibraryIowa City -
Big Book Sale
Join us for a used book sale! Shop an assortment of fiction, non-fiction, cookbooks, young adult, juvenile fiction, children’s books, DVDs and audiobooks. All sales support the Library and its programs, collections, and facilities. Visit www.supporticpl.org for more information about book sales and supporting the Library. Please Note: Scanners and scanning apps are not allowed at book sales. If you need disability-related accommodations in order to participate in this event, please contact the Library. 2025-08-07 15:00:00 -0500
Iowa City Public LibraryIowa City