The Eleventh Hour makes the expertise of the Iowa Summer Writing Festival available to the public, free of charge. The series includes presentations on topics of interest to anyone interested in writing and literature. Fridays are reserved for faculty readings.

UI International Writing Program Director Christopher Merrill was one of four American authors who recently returned from a 10-day reading tour through Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. (Note: A paid subscription may be required.)

Derek Heckman, a University of Iowa junior from Peoria, Ill., has been named a 2013 Beinecke Scholar—the UI’s first winner of the fellowship designed to support advanced study in the arts, humanities, and social sciences.

MusicIC, Iowa City’s summer chamber music festival, returns June 12-16 for its third season, which will also be its first season as a Summer of the Arts Event. The festival includes three evening concerts, a Sunday afternoon family concert, and a mid-week discussion and performance of “love and loss in poetry and music.” And it’s all free and open to the public.

A new film from the University of Iowa Center for the Book reveals important findings about historical papermaking processes. The 10-minute documentary shows UI Associate Professor Tim Barrett and his graduate student co-workers experimenting with centuries-old methods to answer current questions about paper quality, conservation, and aesthetics.

Four American authors traveled to Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan to give public readings, visit literary institutions, and connect with writers, journalists, students, and other creative types as part of a reading tour organized by the University of Iowa’s International Writing Program (IWP).

Kim Merker, founder of the UI Center for the Book, and designer, typesetter, and printer of some of the most beautiful books made in America in the late 20th century, died of cancer in Iowa City at age 81.

Four University of Iowa undergraduate students and 20 UI graduate students have received Stanley Awards for International Research to conduct research abroad or pursue learning activities in international studies that are not available on the UI campus.

Lucas Mann, who received his Master of Fine Arts from the UI in 2012, discusses his first book, Class A: Baseball in the Middle of Everywhere.

UI alumnus Lem Genovese, who received his bachelor's degree in general studies in 1987, is now a veteran folk singer and author, his perspectives honed by four decades of songwriting and performing and his 20 years of service in the U.S. Army and National Guard.