Horacio Castellanos Moya presented the annual Paul Engle Memorial Reading on October 12, 2010. Moya was the 2010 Ida Cordelia Beam Distinguished Visiting Professor. The Engle reading honors the memory of visionary Iowa poet Paul Engle, who led the Iowa Writers’ Workshop to prominence and co-founded the IWP.

The Ida Cordelia Beam Distinguished Visiting Professorships Program was established in 1978-79 based on a bequest from the late Ida Beam of Vinton, Iowa, who willed her family farm to the UI Foundation. The proceeds from the farm’s sale enabled the UI to establish a fund that brings top scholars in a variety of fields to the university for lectures and discussions.