Iowa City isn’t just a UNESCO City of Literature — it was the first in the United States, and only third in the world, to earn the designation from the UNESCO Creative Cities Network.
Now, Iowa City is one of nine cities in the U.S. across seven creative disciplines.
The annual Iowa City Book Festival aims to highlight Iowa’s rich literary legacy and celebrate the power of the written word. Now in its 17th year, the Iowa City Book Festival returns to the downtown corridor from Sunday, Oct. 5, to Sunday, Oct. 12, featuring homegrown talent alongside renowned authors.
The festival’s timing comes three months after the U.S. announced it is withdrawing from UNESCO effective Dec. 31, 2026.
UNESCO is a United Nations organization that “promotes cooperation in education, science, culture and communication to foster peace worldwide,” according to its website.
The U.S. decided to withdraw from UNESCO because the organization “is not in the national interest of the United States,” according to a news release, citing the organization’s decision to admit the “State of Palestine” as a Member State.
The national decision to withdraw from UNESCO will not affect Iowa City’s UNESCO City of Literature designation. However, it will prevent any other U.S. city from earning a designation if not admitted before the 2026 deadline.
Iowa City’s local festival is more than just a reminder of the designation, but about creating opportunities for connection, dialogue, the exchange of ideas, and striving for a stronger future.
For Iowa City UNESCO City of Literature executive director John Kenyon, that goal grows more important each year.
“It’s about bringing stories and information to people at a time where it’s increasingly difficult to do that, or for them to access that, particularly in a way that brings them something of substance they can trust,” Kenyon said. “It’s about trying to contribute to conversations that are already taking place in our community, and bringing incredible, interesting ideas, facts, personalities into that space.”
What to expect at the 2025 Iowa City Book Festival
The slate of 40 events, most of which are free and open to the public, is hosted through partnerships with local organizations, including Prairie Lights, Daydreams Comics, Sidekick Coffee and Books, the Iowa City Public Library, and the Refocus Film Festival.
Opening night of the Refocus Film Festival, happening Thursday, Oct. 9 to Sunday, Oct. 12, features “Train Dreams,” a new film from the Academy Award-nominated writer-director Clint Bentley. The film is an adaptation from Iowa Writers’ Workshop alumnus Denis Johnson’s acclaimed novella of the same name.
Festival attendees can also meet Ted Geltner, author of “Flagrant, Self Destructive Gestures,” a biography of Johnson’s turbulent life and celebrated work, at 11:30 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 12. At 2 p.m. that same day, guests can head into the “Icognito Lounge” at the Riverside Theatre, where friends and admirers of Johnson will read from and discuss his work.
Some of the most renowned works of literature can easily trace their roots back to Iowa City, as with Joe Haldeman’s “The Forever War.” Originally written as Haldeman’s MFA thesis for the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, “The Forever War” has become a science fiction classic for its allegorical take on the Vietnam War.
Haldeman will return to Iowa City to celebrate the 50th anniversary of “The Forever War,” with a conversation with Pete Balestrieri at 1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 11, in the Masonic Building auditorium. That same day, the ICON Science Fiction Convention runs from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and the Iowa City Book Festival will host a reading by bestselling science fiction author John Scalzi from his new novel “The Shattering Peace” at 11:30 a.m., all under one roof.
Though the Iowa City Book Festival encourages attendees to engage with the arts in new ways, it also brings topics to the stage that Iowans care deeply about.
Art Cullen, a Pulitzer Prize winner and editor of the Storm Lake Times Pilot, will capture a topic that is on the minds of many Iowans: water quality.
Cullen will read from his new book, “Dear Marty, We Crapped In Our Nest: Notes from the Edge of the World,” a narrative that revolves around Iowa’s political climate and the environmental challenges facing not only the land but the people who love and live in Iowa. The conversation and reading will happen at 1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 11, at the Iowa City Public Library.
“These are complex issues, and if you’ve got somebody who’s really talented at telling that in a conversational way that’s relatable, that can be the door that opens for them to start paying attention to things that are going on in their lives,” Kenyon said.
For more information on the Iowa City Book Festival, visit iowacityofliterature.org.
Jessica Rish is an entertainment, dining and education reporter for the Iowa City Press-Citizen. She can be reached at JRish@press-citizen.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @rishjessica_
This article originally appeared on Iowa City Press-Citizen: Iowa City literary roots flourish at Iowa City Book Festival despite US exit from UNESCO
Reporting by Jessica Rish, Iowa City Press-Citizen / Iowa City Press-Citizen
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
