Susan Branch, author of 12 best-selling Heart of the Home books, will sign copies of her new book, "A Fine Romance: Falling in Love With the English Countryside," at 1 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 14, at Prairie Lights Books in downtown Iowa City.

Two-time Emmy-Award winner and University of Iowa alumnus Marcos McPeek Villatoro will visit the UI campus and local community Sept. 15-18 thanks to a collaboration between the UI Chief Diversity Office and the Iowa Writers' Workshop.

University of Iowa alumnus Ryan Bartelmay will read from his novel, "Onward Toward What We’re Going Toward," at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 13, 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.

Two-time Emmy Award-winner Marcos Villatoro will present a free reading at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 18, in the Frank Conroy Reading Room of the Glenn Schaeffer Library, adjacent to the Dey House.

Author Natalie Brown will read from her debut novel, "The Lovebird," at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 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 2013-14 season of International Programs’ WorldCanvass series begins with a program focused on human rights and the arts. The live event takes place on Friday, Sept. 20, from 5 to 7 p.m. in the Senate Chamber of the Old Capitol Museum.

"Others Had It Worse: Sour Dock, Moonshine, and Hard Times in Davis County, Iowa" by Chris Baker, alumnus of the University of Iowa School of Journalism and Mass Communication, is now available from the University of Iowa Press.

University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop alumnus Peter Orner will present a free reading at 8 p.m. Monday, Sept. 16, in the Frank Conroy Reading Room of the Glenn Schaeffer Library, adjacent to the Dey House. He will read from "Last Car Over Sagamore Bridge," his second collection of short stories.

Chris Baker, alumnus of the University of Iowa School of Journalism and Mass Communication, will read from his new book, "Others Had It Worse: Sour Dock, Moonshine, and Hard Times in Davis County, Iowa," at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 5, in a free reading at Prairie Lights Books in downtown Iowa City.

Eric Linsker of Brooklyn, N.Y., and Alexandria Peary of Londonderry, N.H., have been named 2013 recipients of the prestigious Iowa Poetry Prize. Linsker's collection, "La Far," and Peary's collection, "Control Bird Alt Delete," will both be published in March 2014 by the University of Iowa Press.