Joshua Balicki
Iowa Review was founded in 1970 by members of the literature and writing programs, and one of the early issues featured Ralph Ellison, the author of Invisible Man. This set the Iowa Review on course to become one of the most prestigious literary reviews in the world.
Iowa Review Editor Harry Stecopoulos will host a reading at Prairie Lights, 15 S. Dubuque St., promoting past, present, and future issues of the literary review.
This reading will feature the work of New York Times bestselling author Amber Dermont, accomplished Vietnamese poet Hai-Dang Phan, and essayist and poet DJ Savarese.
“We go where the material take us,” Stecopoulos said. “Sometimes we are all over the map … Sometimes we see some patterns we had not recognized among the different pieces in the issue.”
Stecopoulos notes the Iowa Review draws from the rich literary talent in Iowa City for both contributions and editorial services, including creative-writing graduates.
“I want work regardless of genre that grabs me by the end of the first paragraph for fiction and the first line or two for poetry,”
Stecopoulos said. “Unless the writer is using language in an interesting way, regardless of the poetic structure, or plot of the story, or the interesting personal issues in a nonfiction piece, I will say no. It comes down to the words in the end.”
Amber Dermont
Dermont has a deep connection with Iowa City that goes beyond the written word.
Once a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, she is now a visiting professor and has taught at the Iowa Summer Writing Festival.
Set during the 1987 stock market crash, her New York Times bestselling début novel The Starboard Sea, examines class privilege, competitive sailing, boarding schools, and the destruction of a fatal hurricane.
“We are lucky to have her,” Stecopoulos said. “She brings something new and fresh to the local literary scene, and she is a dynamic presence on and off the page.”
Hai-Dang Phan
Born in Vietnam and raised in Wisconsin, Hai-Dang Phan is a 2017 National Endowment for the Arts Fellow in Creative Writing. His poems have been published in the Iowa Review, The New Yorker, and Best American Poetry 2016, to name a few.
“He is a rising poet nationally, so I thought he would be a wonderful addition to the roster,” Stecopoulos said.
DJ Savarese
DJ Savarese has published poems and prose in the Iowa Review and Disability Studies Quarterly, just to name a few.
“I have always thought that poetry is autistic: It revels in patterned sound,” said Savarese on the website for his recent documentary film
Deej. “For me, poetry is more natural than spoken language … A poem is like a person wearing earrings: It shimmers in the light. I, of course, use poetry to talk about my life, but a poem is only satisfying if it proceeds from an awareness of sensuous patterns.”
Event Info: The Iowa Review Reading
When: September 28 at 7 p.m.
Where: Prairie Lights Bookstore
Admission: Free
