Mark your calendars to take part in our 100-Word Microstory Contest—a free online writing competition for a variety of age groups. You don't have to be an Iowa Writers' Workshop grad—or even have participated in a flash writing contest before—to join in the fun. Just create a story in 100 words or less that uses one of two specific writing prompts. We will announce the writing prompts on our website on Monday, July 10, 2023, at 9 a.m. CDT. Learn more: https://www.foriowa.org/write-now...

Join us on Friday, May 5 from 4 to 6 p.m. in the UICB Studios for an end of year MFA Showcase. We will celebrate Jacob Roosa's thesis work, on view in the K.K. Merker Gallery, and feature works by UICB MFA students in our North Hall Studios.  Remarks and aproning at 5 p.m.  Food and drink will be served—all are welcome! 

Join us on May 3, 2023, from 3 to 7 p.m. for the annual John Martin Rare Book Room Open House with featured speaker Greta Nettleton. The open house will run from 3 to 6 p.m. and highlight historical works on women’s health and those by or about women practitioners, including new acquisitions. Ms. Nettleton, the author of The Quack’s Daughter: A True Story About the Private Life of a Victorian College Girl, published by the University of Iowa Press in 2014, will speak from 6 to 7 p.m. about THE...

Explore the creative resources and tools available in the Engineering Building that you can use to enhance your creative practice. This workshop will include a brief tour of the Engineering Library, Engineering Machine Shop, and Engineering Electronics Shop, followed by a brief walkthrough on how to find, look over, and properly submit files to be printed. Equipment covered in the workshop can be used to create watermarks, moulds and deckles, and other art tool accessories. Once you know how to...

UICB graduate students, Masami Igarashi and Hideaki Taki will be hosting hands-on workshops connected to the world of handmade paper. Bring your friends, roommates, and family and become a part of this wonderful celebration of the art of hand papermaking.  The UI Center for the Book (UICB), with funding from an International Programs Major Projects Award, will bring two Japanese papermakers to participate in a two-week residency on the University of Iowa campus. The Major Project titled The...

Please join us for our last event with some of the most influential artists today, “the Hernandez Bros,” together with Natalia Hernandez and scholars Qiana Whitted (University of South Carolina) and Darieck Scott (UC Berkeley). We will enjoy our guests’ presentations at the Iowa City Public Library as well as a variety of events. On Friday, we will play the Love and Rockets: The Great American Comic Book at Filmscene, a documentary that celebrates 40 years of the artists’ career. This is part of...

Join the UI Center for the Book and UI International Programs in welcoming Masami Igarashi and Hideaki Taki to the university. Both artisans will be discussing the types of papers they make in their respective studios, as well as their personal background with the craft. Presentations will be followed by a Q&A and an opportunity to handle and purchase paper from both mills. The UI Center for the Book (UICB), with funding from an International Programs Major Projects Award, will bring two...

Please join us for our final Iowa Bibliophiles of the academic year!    On April 12, Special Collections will celebrate some of the fantastic and unique additions to our collections we've made over the last year. At this event curators Eric Ensley, Tim Shipe, and Peter Balestrieri will discuss everything from early modern Ethiopian manuscripts, artists' books, Blaxploitation film scripts, and a Dada publication so rare, it has taken 30 years to find! Come get your own up-close look at these...

Yasmeen Khan has worked in the field of conservation since 1987. She came to the United States to study, earning a Bachelor of Arts in Middle Eastern Studies from Barnard College of Columbia University and a Master of Library and Information Science degree (MLIS) from the University of Texas with a certificate in Conservation of Library and Archival Materials. Presently, she is the head of paper conservation at the Library of Congress where she has worked in various conservation roles since 1996...

A Collaboration With My Former Self combines photography, drawing, painting, bookbinding, paper making, music, electronics, and kinetic sculpture as he examines his 50-year history as an artist and musician.

UICB MFA Candidate, Dana King, worked with the Translate Iowa Project and their fellow students to experiment with the adaptation of media and how this may allow people of differing abilities to enjoy exhibits and works together, while also demonstrating the fine art capabilities of a Risograph machine. UICB MFA candidates and Translate Iowa Project members will showcase collaborative zines and broadsides.

Join us in the Old Capitol Senate Chamber for a reading dedicated to freedom, equality, and social justice in honor of the Al-Mutanabbi Street bombing in Baghdad, Iraq. This attack on academia and culture on March 5, 2007 inspired a book arts response in the form of an annual community reading. Each year, poets, writers, artists, teachers, and students are encouraged to organize readings all around the world. This year, one will take place at the center of the University of Iowa campus. The...

Join the UICB as we spotlight four faculty members during this Spring's Downtown Iowa City Gallery Walk. Work from Sara T. Sauers, Lexi Janezic, Emily Martin, and Kalmia Strong will be on display at r.s.v.p. at 140 N Linn St on Friday, March 3 from 5 p.m. - 8 p.m.

Join us for a celebration of Black Poets. Rare materials from Special Collections and Archives will be on display including works by Langston Hughes, Margaret Walker, and Nikki Giovanni. Stop by to read a poem or visit our Poetry Station to make a poem yourself: we'll provide the supplies for blackout and cut & paste poetry; you bring your imagination!  This event will be in Group Area D of the Main Library, right next to Food for Thought Cafe on the 1st floor. 

Please join us at the K K Merker Gallery on the Basement level of North Hall for "place + Trust," an exhibit of a new body of work by Jennifer Miller. This work explores combinations of handmade paper and text in the forms of sculptures, banners, pulp paintings, and a letterpress printing of a poem titled "Get Out of the Maze," written by Ma Thida. Ma Thida is a Burmese human rights activist, surgeon, writer, and former prisoner of conscience whom Jen met when Ma Thida was a Writer in Residence...

Please join us at the K K Merker Gallery on the Basement level of North Hall for "place + Trust," an exhibit of a new body of work by Jennifer Miller. This work explores combinations of handmade paper and text in the forms of sculptures, banners, pulp paintings, and a letterpress printing of a poem titled "Get Out of the Maze," written by Ma Thida. Ma Thida is a Burmese human rights activist, surgeon, writer, and former prisoner of conscience whom Jen met when Ma Thida was a Writer in Residence...

Please join us at the K K Merker Gallery on the Basement level of North Hall for "place + Trust," an exhibit of a new body of work by Jennifer Miller. This work explores combinations of handmade paper and text in the forms of sculptures, banners, pulp paintings, and a letterpress printing of a poem titled "Get Out of the Maze," written by Ma Thida. Ma Thida is a Burmese human rights activist, surgeon, writer, and former prisoner of conscience whom Jen met when Ma Thida was a Writer in Residence...

Please join us at the K K Merker Gallery on the Basement level of North Hall for "place + Trust," an exhibit of a new body of work by Jennifer Miller. This work explores combinations of handmade paper and text in the forms of sculptures, banners, pulp paintings, and a letterpress printing of a poem titled "Get Out of the Maze," written by Ma Thida. Ma Thida is a Burmese human rights activist, surgeon, writer, and former prisoner of conscience whom Jen met when Ma Thida was a Writer in Residence...

Please join us at the K K Merker Gallery on the Basement level of North Hall for "place + Trust," an exhibit of a new body of work by Jennifer Miller. This work explores combinations of handmade paper and text in the forms of sculptures, banners, pulp paintings, and a letterpress printing of a poem titled "Get Out of the Maze," written by Ma Thida. Ma Thida is a Burmese human rights activist, surgeon, writer, and former prisoner of conscience whom Jen met when Ma Thida was a Writer in Residence...

Please join us at the K K Merker Gallery on the Basement level of North Hall for "place + Trust," an exhibit of a new body of work by Jennifer Miller. This work explores combinations of handmade paper and text in the forms of sculptures, banners, pulp paintings, and a letterpress printing of a poem titled "Get Out of the Maze," written by Ma Thida. Ma Thida is a Burmese human rights activist, surgeon, writer, and former prisoner of conscience whom Jen met when Ma Thida was a Writer in Residence...

Please join us at the K K Merker Gallery on the Basement level of North Hall for "place + Trust," an exhibit of a new body of work by Jennifer Miller. This work explores combinations of handmade paper and text in the forms of sculptures, banners, pulp paintings, and a letterpress printing of a poem titled "Get Out of the Maze," written by Ma Thida. Ma Thida is a Burmese human rights activist, surgeon, writer, and former prisoner of conscience whom Jen met when Ma Thida was a Writer in Residence...

Please join us for an artist reception and artist's talk at the K K Merker Gallery in the B Level of North Hall for "place + Trust," an exhibit of a new body of work by Jennifer Miller. Reception runs from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. with an artist's talk at 6 p.m.  This work explores combinations of handmade paper and text in the forms of sculptures, banners, pulp paintings, and a letterpress printing of a poem titled "Get Out of the Maze," written by Ma Thida. Ma Thida is a Burmese human rights...

Please join us at the K K Merker Gallery on the Basement level of North Hall for "place + Trust," an exhibit of a new body of work by Jennifer Miller. This work explores combinations of handmade paper and text in the forms of sculptures, banners, pulp paintings, and a letterpress printing of a poem titled "Get Out of the Maze," written by Ma Thida. Ma Thida is a Burmese human rights activist, surgeon, writer, and former prisoner of conscience whom Jen met when Ma Thida was a Writer in Residence...

Please join us at the K K Merker Gallery on the Basement level of North Hall for "place + Trust," an exhibit of a new body of work by Jennifer Miller. This work explores combinations of handmade paper and text in the forms of sculptures, banners, pulp paintings, and a letterpress printing of a poem titled "Get Out of the Maze," written by Ma Thida. Ma Thida is a Burmese human rights activist, surgeon, writer, and former prisoner of conscience whom Jen met when Ma Thida was a Writer in Residence...

Come to a virtual Iowa Bibliophiles! Join assistant professor of art Meghan O'Connor from Coastal Carolina University to hear more about her project involving finger-casting, dart-throwing, stone lithography, screenprinting, and community collaboration. “Casting Fingers, Casting Blame?” focuses on community, play, and indirect collaboration. The project includes part of a collection of fingers cast from willing participants combined with a series of lithography and screenprinting. Hear about...

Please join us at the K K Merker Gallery on the Basement level of North Hall for "place + Trust," an exhibit of a new body of work by Jennifer Miller. This work explores combinations of handmade paper and text in the forms of sculptures, banners, pulp paintings, and a letterpress printing of a poem titled "Get Out of the Maze," written by Ma Thida. Ma Thida is a Burmese human rights activist, surgeon, writer, and former prisoner of conscience whom Jen met when Ma Thida was a Writer in Residence...

Please join us at the K K Merker Gallery on the Basement level of North Hall for "place + Trust," an exhibit of a new body of work by Jennifer Miller. This work explores combinations of handmade paper and text in the forms of sculptures, banners, pulp paintings, and a letterpress printing of a poem titled "Get Out of the Maze," written by Ma Thida. Ma Thida is a Burmese human rights activist, surgeon, writer, and former prisoner of conscience whom Jen met when Ma Thida was a Writer in Residence...

Please join us at the K K Merker Gallery on the Basement level of North Hall for "place + Trust," an exhibit of a new body of work by Jennifer Miller. This work explores combinations of handmade paper and text in the forms of sculptures, banners, pulp paintings, and a letterpress printing of a poem titled "Get Out of the Maze," written by Ma Thida. Ma Thida is a Burmese human rights activist, surgeon, writer, and former prisoner of conscience whom Jen met when Ma Thida was a Writer in Residence...

Please join us at the K K Merker Gallery on the Basement level of North Hall for "place + Trust," an exhibit of a new body of work by Jennifer Miller. This work explores combinations of handmade paper and text in the forms of sculptures, banners, pulp paintings, and a letterpress printing of a poem titled "Get Out of the Maze," written by Ma Thida. Ma Thida is a Burmese human rights activist, surgeon, writer, and former prisoner of conscience whom Jen met when Ma Thida was a Writer in Residence...

Please join us at the K K Merker Gallery on the Basement level of North Hall for "place + Trust," an exhibit of a new body of work by Jennifer Miller. This work explores combinations of handmade paper and text in the forms of sculptures, banners, pulp paintings, and a letterpress printing of a poem titled "Get Out of the Maze," written by Ma Thida. Ma Thida is a Burmese human rights activist, surgeon, writer, and former prisoner of conscience whom Jen met when Ma Thida was a Writer in Residence...

Please join us at the K K Merker Gallery on the Basement level of North Hall for "place + Trust," an exhibit of a new body of work by Jennifer Miller. This work explores combinations of handmade paper and text in the forms of sculptures, banners, pulp paintings, and a letterpress printing of a poem titled "Get Out of the Maze," written by Ma Thida. Ma Thida is a Burmese human rights activist, surgeon, writer, and former prisoner of conscience whom Jen met when Ma Thida was a Writer in Residence...

Please join us at the K K Merker Gallery on the Basement level of North Hall for "place + Trust," an exhibit of a new body of work by Jennifer Miller. This work explores combinations of handmade paper and text in the forms of sculptures, banners, pulp paintings, and a letterpress printing of a poem titled "Get Out of the Maze," written by Ma Thida. Ma Thida is a Burmese human rights activist, surgeon, writer, and former prisoner of conscience whom Jen met when Ma Thida was a Writer in Residence...

Please join us at the K K Merker Gallery on the Basement level of North Hall for "place + Trust," an exhibit of a new body of work by Jennifer Miller. This work explores combinations of handmade paper and text in the forms of sculptures, banners, pulp paintings, and a letterpress printing of a poem titled "Get Out of the Maze," written by Ma Thida. Ma Thida is a Burmese human rights activist, surgeon, writer, and former prisoner of conscience whom Jen met when Ma Thida was a Writer in Residence...

Please join us at the K K Merker Gallery on the Basement level of North Hall for "place + Trust," an exhibit of a new body of work by Jennifer Miller. This work explores combinations of handmade paper and text in the forms of sculptures, banners, pulp paintings, and a letterpress printing of a poem titled "Get Out of the Maze," written by Ma Thida. Ma Thida is a Burmese human rights activist, surgeon, writer, and former prisoner of conscience whom Jen met when Ma Thida was a Writer in Residence...

The Salisbury House Library at Grinnell College: Collection History, Present, and Next Chapter Join us for a virtual Iowa Bibliophiles and an introduction to the Salisbury House Library Collection at Grinnell College. Learn more about this unique Iowa collection and its original home in a 1920s Des Moines estate, a 2019 move to Grinnell, current projects, and the chapter ahead with librarians Chris Jones and Laura Michelson. Meet some of the ‘greatest hits’ and favorites from the stacks and...

Exhibits from UICB studio classes in lettering arts, papermaking, bookbinding, artist books, and letterpress printing will be on display. Work from UICB Faculty will be on display in the K.K. Merker Gallery. Food and drink will be served—all are welcome!

From making new friends to acquiring global skills for professional development, hear stories from UI students about their life-changing study abroad experiences in Asia and the Pacific Islands. "World Education: Our Stories from Asia and the Pacific Islands" will take place during International Education Week on Tuesday, Nov. 15, from 7 to 8:15 p.m. (CST). Register to attend via Zoom "Transformations in the Asia-Pacific region have reshaped our socio-economic and political landscape, thus...

On Friday, Nov. 11, University of Iowa Center for the Book paper making specialist Nick Cladis will host the Center's annual kozo harvest at the Oakdale Paper Research Facility! We need all hands on deck for this event, as we have a field of kozo to harvest, steam, and peel. You'll learn a lot about processing bark fibers in traditional ways. We will be harvesting in the morning, from 9:30 a.m., and will then move to the studio to steam the bark and peel the bark before hanging them in bundles...

The UICB will be holding an information session about the program on Nov. 4, 2022 at noon CT via teleconference. Videos and slides, faculty and students: we’ll describe the program, answer questions, and welcome anyone (from the curious to the already-committed applicant) who would like to participate.

During late May and early June this year, University of Iowa Center for the Book MFA candidates Madison Bennet, Jamie Capps, Tegan Daly, and Chayna Truex travelled with UICB Paper Making Specialist and Instructor Nicholas Cladis to the village of Echizen in Japan. Before joining the faculty at UI, Cladis spent many years living and working in Echizen, a traditional Japanese paper making village. And returning to Echizen with a group of students serves as his inaugural research project at the...

Join us for a virtual Iowa Bibliophiles! The Iowa Initiative for Scientific Imaging and Conservation of Cultural Artifacts (IISICCA) is a collaborative research team from all across the University of Iowa. An unparalleled interdisciplinary group, their goal is to collaborate on exploring cultural artifacts with nondestructive digital imaging, machine learning, and artificial intelligence technologies.   This talk features a look at this unique team and their work to uncover mysteries behind...

"The Post-Typographic Private Press?" The British private press holds such a strong gravitational pull over the bibliophilic imagination that it is hard to see that there is a thriving private press tradition in the twenty-first century. Appearance has a lot to do with it: the books of today don’t look like the books of the Kelmscott, Doves, Ashendene or other British presses, so surely they don't fall into the same category. But is a private press book designated by its physical attributes or...

Impermanences is a group art exhibit curated by Dana King and Jennifer Miller, who are University of Iowa Center for the Book MFA candidates. The show, found in the K.K. Merker Gallery in North Hall, presents work in which the artists respond to themes of change, loss, and grief as inevitable and shared human experiences. Varying interpretations of the theme include the loss of loved ones, political and social change, and time-based changes to materials. Impermanences features works by Emily...

Body of Work UICB certificate student, Katie Kiesewetter, (re)presents Body of Work in the K.K. Merker Gallery Sept. 26 - Oct. 7. A smaller version of her MA exhibition, originally shown in the Ana Mendieta Gallery in May of this year, this revised and reprised Body of Work explores what installation pieces can look like retrofitted to a new space. Thematically, Body of Work examines the effects of labor on one's identity and being, issues related to the service and hospitality industry, and...