The Iowa City Book Festival will celebrate its fifth year in the City of Literature with an ambitious and varied slate of programming that includes more than 70 events from Oct. 10-13. Several events have University of Iowa ties, including a discussion with Writers' Workshop affiliates in the Englert Theatre.

The University of Iowa National Speech-Language and Hearing Association will host a benefit auction Friday Oct. 18, at the University Athletic Club.The evening includes a buffet style dinner and live music. Proceeds will go toward student scholarships and client services.

In 1951, cells from cancer patient Henrietta Lacks were used in research without her consent. Those cells, called HeLa, have contributed to many medical breakthroughs, along with raising questions about science, ethics, and privacy. Two members of the Lacks family will give talks in Iowa City on Thursday, Oct. 10.

Live coverage of the University of Iowa's annual Homcoming parade, starting 5:45 p.m., Friday, Oct. 4.

The University of Iowa School of Music will present a free performance by the UI Chamber Orchestra, led by William LaRue Jones, director of orchestral studies, at 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 6, in Riverside Recital Hall.

A Mini Medical School program on "The Future of Human Reproduction" will discuss the ethical, social, and legal issues surrounding the use of preimplantation genetic diagnosis of embryos conceived by in vitro fertilization before a woman becomes pregnant.

With the threat of severe weather Friday, Oct. 4, the 2013 University of Iowa Homecoming concert is moving from the Pentacrest lawn to the Iowa Memorial Union Main Lounge.

Jim Leach, who spent 30 years representing Iowa in the U.S. House of Representatives, was selected as the first speaker for the College of Education's new Distinguished Speakers Series on Tuesday, Oct. 15, at 10:30 a.m., in N300 Lindquist Center. The event is free and open to the public.

The Kennedy Center is creating a new partnership in Iowa City as part of its Any Given Child Program. Members of the news media are invited to attend the news conference at 11 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 8, in the Iowa Community School District Education Services Center, 1725 North Dodge St. in Iowa City.

Several University of Iowa groups are working with the City of Iowa City to organize an Iowa River Cleanup project on Saturday, Oct. 12, from 9 a.m. to noon. Volunteers, age 18 or over, are invited to help pick up trash along the banks of the Iowa River.

Poets Lucy Ives and Haley Thompson, alumnae of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, will read from "Orange Roses" and "Home Is a Place Worth Burying," respectively, at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 10, in a free reading at Prairie Lights Books in downtown Iowa City. The reading also will be streamed live on the University of Iowa Writing University website.

The University of Iowa International Writing Program, the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and Prairie Lights Books will host a reading to commemorate the life and works of Irish poet Seamus Heaney, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 8, in Room 100 of Phillips Hall on the UI campus.