Christopher Merrill, director of the University of Iowa International Writing Program, will read from his most recent books of poetry, "Boat" and "Necessities," at 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 14, 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 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.

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.

More than 1,400 writers from more than 140 countries have attended the University of Iowa’s International Writers Program since its inception in 1967, making it one of the strongest centers for international literary exchange in the United States.

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.

Martine Bellen, Iris Marble Cushing, Magus Magnus, and Joshua Ware will read as part of the Furniture Press Books poetry tour at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 8, at Prairie Lights Books in downtown Iowa City. The reading also will be streamed live on the University of Iowa Writing University website.

Eric Lundgren will read from his comic and existential novel "The Facades" at 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 7, 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.

Robin Sloan will read from his novel "Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore," at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 2, 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.