With help from the Obermann Center for Advanced Studies, three scholars have translated a complex account of Cortés' conquest of Mexico, offering a local account of events often viewed through European and contemporary eyes.

We all find ways to kill time while in waiting rooms. In the case of music faculty Anthony Arnone, why not play some cello while waiting for his car to be serviced? Positive reactions inspired Arnone to start a new project, "Bach to Work." He visited several public spaces this fall, providing the beauty of art in unexpected places.

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.

Members of the public, the media, local and state government, and University of Iowa officials will participate in a day of special events dealing with a free press and open government Thursday, Oct. 3 on the UI campus.

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.

Amy Belfi, a fourth-year graduate student in the UI Neuroscience Graduate Program, is using crowdfunding to help support her study on the link between music and autobiographical memory. Her goal of $1,500, to be raised by Oct. 18, will be used to compensate study participants and defray their travel costs.

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.

Carl Klaus, founder of the University of Iowa’s Nonfiction Writing Program and professor emeritus, will read from "A Self Made of Words" at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 9, in a free reading at Prairie Lights Books in downtown Iowa City. The reading also will be streamed live on the UI 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.

The University of Iowa String Quartet Residency Program will present a free public performance by the JACK Quartet at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 12, in Riverside Recital Hall on the UI campus. The concert, which will feature clarinetist Derek Bermel, is part of the JACK’s extended residency Oct. 6-13 at the UI School of Music.