The Fiske Guide to Colleges named the University of Iowa one of the best bargains in higher education.

Author and Iowa Writers' Workshop faculty member Marilynne Robinson received the National Humanities Medal from President Obama in a White House ceremony Wednesday.

Marilynne Robinson, Pulitzer Prize–winning author and faculty member in the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop, will be awarded a 2012 National Humanities Medal by President Obama in a ceremony Wednesday, July 10, at the White House.

UI professor and author Marilynne Robinson will receive the National Humanities Medal for 2012 in ceremonies at the White House next week.

Who could guess that in the heart of the Karakum Desert we would be introduced to a romance writer from our own country? Such is the beauty of cultural diplomacy: we learn strange truths; dispel stereotypes and correct misimpressions; meet one another on common ground, this time in a library.

Assistant professor of English John D'Agata discusses his latest work, a new translation of Plutarch.

The Eleventh Hour makes the expertise of the Iowa Summer Writing Festival available to the public, free of charge. The series includes presentations on topics of interest to anyone interested in writing and literature. Fridays are reserved for faculty readings.

UI International Writing Program Director Christopher Merrill was one of four American authors who recently returned from a 10-day reading tour through Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. (Note: A paid subscription may be required.)

Derek Heckman, a University of Iowa junior from Peoria, Ill., has been named a 2013 Beinecke Scholar—the UI’s first winner of the fellowship designed to support advanced study in the arts, humanities, and social sciences.

MusicIC, Iowa City’s summer chamber music festival, returns June 12-16 for its third season, which will also be its first season as a Summer of the Arts Event. The festival includes three evening concerts, a Sunday afternoon family concert, and a mid-week discussion and performance of “love and loss in poetry and music.” And it’s all free and open to the public.