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Chemistry Building230 N Madison St Iowa City, IA 52242 United States41.664100-91.5360100 -
Dave's Fox Head Tavern402 E Market St41.663698-91.5299191 -
Donnelly's Pub110 E. College St.41.659230-91.5341012 -
Downtown Iowa City (Ped Mall)14 South Clinton Street41.659072-91.5331913 -
Gabe's Oasis330 E Washington St · Iowa City, IA 5224041.660355-91.5306194 -
Iowa Ave Literary Walk: Flannery O'ConnorIowa Avenue41.661199-91.5301655 -
Iowa Ave Literary Walk: Ray Young BearIowa Avenue-91.53065241.6611656 -
Iowa Avenue Literary Walk: Kurt VonnegutIowa Avenue41.661173-91.5338837 -
Iowa Avenue Literary Walk: Mildred Wirt Benson41.661160-91.5328648 -
Iowa Book & Supply8 South Clinton St.41.660943-91.5344429 -
Iowa City123 S Linn St41.661128-91.53016810 -
Iowa House / Iowa Memorial Union125 N. Madison St.41.663250-91.53852111 -
James Tate: Iowa Avenue Literary Walk41.661086-91.53187112 -
JOHN IRVING: IOWA AVENUE LITERARY WALKIowa Avenue41.661265-91.53227813 -
Kenney's Bar125 South Clinton St.41.659852-91.53464314 -
Margaret Walker's Plaque on the Literary Walk351 Iowa Avenue41.661183-91.53106015 -
Marvin Bell: Literary Walk PlaqueIowa Avenue, Iowa City, IA41.661114-91.53144516 -
Micky's Irish Pub11 South Dubuque Street41.661067-91.53343717 -
Philip Levine Plaque on Iowa Lit Walk41.661163-91.53077618 -
Prairie Lights Bookstore15 South Dubuque Street, Iowa City Iowa41.660720-91.53309919 -
Sanctuary Pub405 S Gilbert St, Iowa City, IA 5224041.656590-91.53045720 -
Tennessee Williams: Iowa Ave Literary WalkIowa Avenue Literary Walk41.661185-91.53416021 -
Tennessee Williams: North Clinton Boarding House126 North Clinton St.41.663558-91.53435522 -
The Englert Theater221 E Washington St, Iowa City, IA 5224041.659984-91.53227923 -
The Jefferson Hotel129 E. Washington St. (Current Jefferson Building)41.659813-91.53342124 -
The Mill Restaurant120 EAST BURLINGTON ST.41.658012-91.53380525 -
Wallace Stegner: College and Dubuque StCorner of College and Dubuque St41.658934-91.53306526 -
Wallace Stegner: Iowa Avenue Literary Walk41.661130-91.53275427
Chemistry Building
230 N Madison St Iowa City, IA 52242 United States
Related Stories
- Vonnegut Teaching Fiction at the Iowa Writers' Workshop
Dave's Fox Head Tavern
402 E Market St
Dave’s Fox Head (402 East Market Street), on the corner of Market and Gilbert streets, has been the “Workshop bar” since at least the 1980s. From the outside it appears to be little more than a shack, and its interior has remained completely unchanged since I first stepped foot inside in the late 1970s. It’s a simple tavern—a couple of rows of scarred wooden booths, a jukebox, and a pool table. It could be 1945 or 2012 or, judging from the jukebox selection, 1967 onward. Being inside Dave’s is a little like being inside a Raymond Carver story, and although it’s often full of writers, I don’t think anyone ever actually writes in Dave’s.
- From City Guide: Iowa City by Jan Weissmiller
Related Stories
- Frank Conroy at the Foxhead
Donnelly's Pub
110 E. College St.
The original Donnelly’s Pub was on Dubuque Street, now at 110 East College Street, where Workshop writers Robert Lowell and John Berryman met in the 1950s, followed by John Irving and Kurt Vonnegut in the sixties.
From City Guide: Iowa City by Jan Weissmiller:
The antique bar at Micky’s was moved from the original Donnelly’s Pub on Dubuque Street, now at 110 East College Street, where Workshop writers Robert Lowell and John Berryman met in the 1950s, followed by John Irving and Kurt Vonnegut in the sixties. If you order a Guinness, be assured that Dylan Thomas had more than one there before you.
Related Stories
- Robert Dana at Donnelly's Pub
- Robert Lowell and John Berryman at Donnelly's Bar
- Tomaž Šalamun meets Anselm Hollo at Donnelly's Pub
Downtown Iowa City (Ped Mall)
14 South Clinton Street
Downtown Iowa City is the economic and cultural engine of the Iowa City community. It is home to a wide variety of independent, locally-owned boutiques and shops , as well as some of the very best dining and entertainment options in the state. Culture and entertainment options abound. Whether visitors are seeking live music, theater, art galleries, films, or impromptu on-street jams, a five-minute walk through Downtown Iowa City will offer all of the above and more.Related Stories
- T.C. Boyle on Downtown Iowa City
Gabe's Oasis
330 E Washington St · Iowa City, IA 52240
The legendary bar known as Gabe’s Oasis, first started as Gabe and Walker’s back in the early 70′s and, while it has gone through many transformations, it is strangely the same. This place has operated for years bringing some of the best live music available to Iowa City. Gabe's brings high quality local, regional and national shows to Iowa City, with a beer garden out back and two floors of music and social space.Related Stories
- T.C Boyle: Gabe's
Iowa Ave Literary Walk: Flannery O'Connor
Iowa Avenue
"Everywhere I go, I’m asked if I think the universities stifle writers. My opinion is that they don’t stifle enough of them."
Related Stories
- Flannery O'Connor's Literary Walk Plaque
Iowa Ave Literary Walk: Ray Young Bear
Iowa Avenue
Related Stories
- Ray Young Bear's plaque on the Iowa Avenue Literary Walk
Iowa Avenue Literary Walk: Kurt Vonnegut
Iowa Avenue
The Kurt Vonnegut plaque on the Iowa Avenue Literary Walk reads: ‘We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.’Related Stories
- Kurt Vonnegut’s Literary Walk Plaque
Iowa Avenue Literary Walk: Mildred Wirt Benson
This is Mildred Benson’s plaque on the Iowa Avenue Literary Walk. It is located in front of the Blue Moose Taphouse on Iowa Avenue and it reads “I’m afraid there’s more to this than appears on the surface.”Related Stories
- Mildred Wirt Benson: Literary Walk Plaque
Iowa Book & Supply
8 South Clinton St.
Serving Iowa Students for over eighty years, Iowa Book is a locally owned independent bookstore, that also offers Hawkeye apparel and gifts. They are a landmark one-of-a-kind bookstore across the street from the Old Capitol in Iowa City.
From City Guide: Iowa City by Jan Weissmiller:
Around the corner from Prairie Lights, on the corner of Iowa Avenue and Clinton Street, is Iowa Book (8 South Clinton), which hosts readings during the Iowa City Book Festival, held in July, and holds signings throughout the year. If you wind your way past the myriad racks of Hawkeye T-shirts and take the stairs down to the trade book section, you’ll find another one of America’s greatest booksellers, Matt Lage. Paul and I regularly regale Matt with our newest opinions only because we welcome both his tributes and his tirades.
Related Stories
Iowa City
123 S Linn St
For 80 years, Iowa City has been teaching the world to write. The Iowa Writers’ Workshop at the University of Iowa pioneered the teaching of creative writing at the university level. Dozens of creative programs within the university and the city followed. The newest chapter in this tradition is Iowa City’s designation as a UNESCO City of Literature.Related Stories
- "This Was Iowa"
- Abraham Verghese meets John Irving
- Andre Dubus and Robert Lacy at Marv's Tavern
- Charles Wright on his first year at the Workshop
- Gerald Stern, Haki R. Madhubuti, Marvin Bell, and James Galvin reading
Iowa House / Iowa Memorial Union
125 N. Madison St.
The Iowa Memorial Union, or IMU, at University of Iowa opened in 1925. The building currently houses a number of student clubs and the Iowa House Hotel.
From City Guide: Iowa City by Jan Weissmiller:
If you exit the north entrance of the English-Philosophy building and cross Iowa Avenue, you can walk along a river path ... that eventually leads to the Iowa House Hotel (125 North Madison Street), where John Cheever and Raymond Carver both lived while they taught at the Workshop in the fall of 1973. No biography of either of them neglects to mention the degenerate drinking they engaged in when they lived there.
Related Stories
- Charles Wright, Donald Justice and Marvin Bell at the IMU
- John Cheever and Raymond Carver at the Iowa House
- Marvin Bell and Donald Justice: Iowa Memorial Union
- Raymond Carver and Donald Justice at the Iowa House
- Robert Dana, Robert Lowell in the Iowa Writers’ Workshop
James Tate: Iowa Avenue Literary Walk
Related Stories
- James Tate: Literary Walk Plaque
JOHN IRVING: IOWA AVENUE LITERARY WALK
Iowa Avenue
John Irving's plaque on the Iowa Avenue Literary Walk reads: “To each other, we were as normal and nice as the smell of bread. We were just a family. In a family even exaggerations make perfect sense,” from his novel The Hotel New Hampshire.Related Stories
- John Irving: Iowa Avenue Literary Walk
Kenney's Bar
125 South Clinton St.
Once located on the west side of Clinton St., Kenney’s Bar was a very popular place for the Writer’s Workshop participants at this time. “Since my Iowa days I’ve heard that Kenney’s has appeared more in American novels than any other bar.” - Philip F O'Connor, “The Fellowship” A Community of Writers: Paul Engle and the Iowa Writer’s Workshop.
The former location of Irene Kenney's Bar in now Hill's Bank in downtown Iowa City. Inside the lobby at Hill's Bank, a large photograph shows the block of South Clinton in the early 1960s: in the photograph, you can see Irene Kenney's bar in the lower right-hand corner.Related Stories
- Charles Wright at the Iowa Writers' Workshop
- John Berryman at Kenney's Bar
- Philip Levine at Kenney's Bar
Margaret Walker's Plaque on the Literary Walk
351 Iowa Avenue
Margaret Walker's Plaque on the Literary Walk reads "The summer then was like an idyll, a season of peace, when all the agitation of the violent world around them seemed suspended, and they felt secure."
Citation: Walker, Margaret. Jubilee. Houghton Mifflin, 1966.Related Stories
- Margaret Walker's Plaque on the Iowa Avenue Literary Walk
Marvin Bell: Literary Walk Plaque
Iowa Avenue, Iowa City, IA
Related Stories
- Marvin Bell: Literary Walk Plaque
Micky's Irish Pub
11 South Dubuque Street
Located in the heart of downtown Iowa City, Micky's is a local favorite, serving great sandwiches, burgers, salads and specialties in a neighborhood-style restaurant and bar.
From City Guide: Iowa City by Jan Weissmiller:
The first is Micky’s Irish Pub (11 South Dubuque Street). The antique bar at Micky’s was moved from the original Donnelly’s Pub on Dubuque Street, now at 110 East College Street, where Workshop writers Robert Lowell and John Berryman met in the 1950s, followed by John Irving and Kurt Vonnegut in the sixties. If you order a Guinness, be assured that Dylan Thomas had more than one there before you.
Related Stories
Philip Levine Plaque on Iowa Lit Walk
“Instead I was born in the wrong year and in the wrong place, and I made my way so slowly and badly that I remember every single turn, and each one smells like an overblown rose, yellow, American, beautiful, and true.”Related Stories
- Philip Levine Plaque on Iowa Avenue Literary Walk
Prairie Lights Bookstore
15 South Dubuque Street, Iowa City Iowa
Prairie Lights is an intimate local bookstore in Iowa City that includes three and a half floors, and a coffee house located in the same space that the local literary society met throughout the 1930's, hosting writers Carl Sandburg, Robert Frost, Sherwood Anderson, Langston Hughes, e e cummings and others. Gertrude Stein and friend Alice B. Toklas were scheduled for a reading but were sleeted in at Waukesha airport -- or so the story goes. Prairie Lights is one of the centers of the literary community in town.Related Stories
- Abraham Verghese in Prairie Lights Bookstore
- Abraham Verghese reading, 2009
- Ana Merino, Horacio Castellanos Moya and Luis Muñoz read at Prairie Lights Bookstore
- Cathy Park Hong and Joyelle McSweeney reading, Live from Prairie Lights
- Horacio Castellanos Moya reading, 2010 Ida Cordelia Beam Distinguished Visiting Professor
Sanctuary Pub
405 S Gilbert St, Iowa City, IA 52240
A mellow mainstay for writers, with refined bar bites and a large list of draft & bottled beers, in wood-paneled digs.Related Stories
- John D'Agata: NWP Reading Series at the Sanctuary Pub
Tennessee Williams: Iowa Ave Literary Walk
Iowa Avenue Literary Walk
Tennessee Williams’ plaque on the Iowa Avenue Literary Walk reads "We’re all of us sentenced to solitary confinement inside our own skins, for life!"Related Stories
- Tennessee Williams: Iowa Ave Literary Walk
Tennessee Williams: North Clinton Boarding House
126 North Clinton St.
This house near the University of Iowa dorms and the Northside neighborhood was a boarding house for Tennesee Williams during his time as a student in Iowa City.Related Stories
- Tennessee Williams: North Clinton Boarding House
The Englert Theater
221 E Washington St, Iowa City, IA 52240
The Englert Theatre is a community arts center and performance space, enhancing the vitality of Iowa City’s historic downtown by preserving its last historic theater.Related Stories
- Cathy Park Hong at the Workshop 75th Anniversary Panel
The Jefferson Hotel
129 E. Washington St. (Current Jefferson Building)
Built 1913 by a group of prominent Iowa City businessmen, the Jefferson Hotel's “modern” appointments, such as an electric elevator, an artesian well, telephones, electric lights, and hot and cold running water, made it a premier hotel in Iowa early in the century. Related Stories
- John Berryman Stays at the Jefferson Hotel
- Ray Young Bear reads at the Jefferson Building
- Robert Lowell at the Jefferson Hotel
The Mill Restaurant
120 EAST BURLINGTON ST.
A casual eatery with a mix of American & Italian fare, plus a bar, patio seating & frequent music, the Mill Restaurant is a classic Iowa City establishment in downtown.Related Stories
- DeWitt Henry on James McPherson as a teacher
- Jane Smiley: The Mill
- Juan Philipe Herrera at the Mill
- T.C. Boyle & Raymond Carver at the Mill
Wallace Stegner: College and Dubuque St
Corner of College and Dubuque St
Located in the Iowa City Pedestrian Mall, this location appears in Wallace Stegner's fiction.Related Stories
- Wallace Stegner: College and Dubuque St
Wallace Stegner: Iowa Avenue Literary Walk
"All of us felt it. We must have. For in front of their gate, before we drove away still wearing their burnooses, we fell into a four-ply, laughing hug, we were so glad to know one another and so glad that all the trillion chances in the universe had brought us to the same town and the same university at the same time."Related Stories
- Wallace Stegner: Iowa Avenue Literary Walk