Audiences across the state can learn how Iowa City became a literary legend when a new University of Iowa-produced documentary airs on Iowa Public Television (IPTV).

City of Literature will be broadcast Friday, Oct. 12, at 9 p.m. and Sunday, Oct. 14, at 6 p.m. on IPTV.

It also airs Sunday, Oct. 14, at 11 p.m. on IPTV World, which viewers with digital TVs or converter boxes can find on channel 12.3 in eastern Iowa and 11.3 in central Iowa. (See the IPTV website for detailed programming and channel info.)

Local audiences also can see the film on the big screen Sunday, Oct. 14, at 2 p.m. at an event sponsored by Iowa City UNESCO City of Literatureat The EnglertTheatre, 221 E. Washington St. in downtown Iowa City.

A panel discussion will follow the screening, which marks Paul Engle Day, a celebration of the Iowa poet who was instrumental in building Iowa City’s global literary reputation. Find ticket info at the Englert website.

City of Literaturetraces the rise of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, the International Writing Program, and other initiatives that earned Iowa City UNESCO’s designation as the world’s third City of Literature in 2009.

But it also digs deeper to explore early literary societies, groundbreaking journals, and visits from luminaries like Mark Twain, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Oscar Wilde. Throughout the film, contemporary writers including Allan Gurganus, Allison Bechdel, Paul Harding, and Robert Pinsky also offer their reflections on writing itself.

Ben Hill, a video producer with University Communication and Marketing, wrote and directed the film.

His partners on the project included director of photography John Richard, researchers Rachael Carlson and Mary Bennett, and UI colleagues. Sponsors included the university, the State Historical Society, Humanities Iowa, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Iowa Arts Council.