2025 Schedule

Lit Walk

  5:00 PM

  Various

The annual MCF Lit Walk returns in 2025 with several rounds of speakers at your favorite local hotspots. Bringing Iowa City to life in new ways, hear an unexpected variety of work from a mix of talented local and out-of-town writers.   Round One (5:00): Revival features Mofiyinfoluwa O. (host) with Riley Ryan-Wood, Julianne Altenbern, […]

Nat Baldwin

  7:30 PM

  Riverside Theatre

Nat Baldwin is a double bassist, composer, and writer from Maine currently living in Western Mass. He’s released several solo and collaborative works across genres and runs the experimental music label Tripticks Tapes. His books include a collection of short fiction, The Red Barn (Calamari Archive, 2017), and a work of hybrid non-fiction, Antithesis (Bridge […]

Younger

  7:45 PM

  Gabe's

Each of the three women who make up the power-sneer rock band Younger are veterans of Iowa City’s music scene. Their brand of nineties worship brings to mind the shoulder-popping rhythms of early Sleater-Kinney, while their dedication to three-part harmonies evokes the Shangri-las. Drums, bass, and guitar all grind with the swagger of musicians for […]

Mabe Fratti

  8:00 PM

  The Englert Theatre

Mabe Fratti is an experimental cellist and composer.  Originally from Guatemala, Fratti is now based in Mexico City.  She uses cello, voice and synthesizers to present sound in the form of installation, composition & free improvisation. Mabe’s music takes us to sensible sounding boards: through a hypnotic and captivating performance, she sews contemporary elements like […]

Diles Que No Me Maten

  8:30 PM

  Riverside Theatre

Diles Que No Me Maten is an Experimental / Psychodelic / Post-Punk / Krautrock group, originated and currently based in Mexico City. The group was founded through the search of brothers Raul Ponce (drums) and Gerardo Ponce (guitar), while they were looking forward to forming a band in 2017.  In this search, they stumbled upon […]

Angry Blackmen

  9:00 PM

  Gabe's

Chicago based experimental hiphop duo ANGRY BLACKMEN formed sometime in early 2017. The group consists of rappers Brian Warren and Quentin Branch. Now in 2024 ABM are back  with a full-length record entitled ‘The Legend of ABM’, a 30-minute coming of age narrative about black men navigating this wilderness known as North America.  ‘The Legend […]

Groundwater

  9:00 PM

  The Black Angel

If you’ve heard Dustin Busch’s brilliant steel guitar, you know he captures the universe in a vibe, a chord, a phrase. He does the same with his ambient music, it will heal your heart and soothe your soul.

Mannequin Pussy

  9:30 PM

  The Englert Theatre

Mannequin Pussy’s music feels like a resilient and galvanizing shout that demands to be heard. Across four albums, the Philadelphia rock band that consists of Colins “Bear” Regisford (bass, vocals), Kaleen Reading (drums, percussion), Maxine Steen (guitar, synths), and Marisa Dabice (guitar, vocals) has made cathartic tunes about despairing times. “There’s just so much constantly […]

Flore Laurentienne

  10:00 PM

  Riverside Theatre

Flore Laurentienne is the unique project of Mathieu David Gagnon, composer, orchestrator and musician. His albums “Volume 1” and “Volume 2“, released via Costume Records, won over audiences and critics alike, garnering two Félix awards at the 2020 ADISQ gala and the trophy for Best Experimental Album at GAMIQ the same year. The albums also […]

Dave Helmer

  10:00 PM

  The Black Angel

Dave Helmer is a songwriter’s songwriter from eastern Iowa. Helmer toured the country for 15+ years with his band Crystal City, and added Dave Helmer Band as his newest project. Helmer’s love of guitar is reflected even further in his work as a professional luthier proudly supporting area musicians. Helmer’s signature Rock & Roll sound […]

Your Smith

  10:45 PM

  Gabe's

Minneapolis native Your Smith (aka Caroline Smith), relocated to Los Angeles after signing to Pulse Recording (DRAM, Miike Snow, Gallant, et. al). Inspired by the history of Laurel Canyon and moving through a city that’s been immortalized in music throughout the ages, Smith concocted her own sound, bringing together the funk / R&B “Minneapolis Sound” […]

Little Engines presents: MORNING, FUCKERS

  10:00 AM

  The Tuesday Agency

Little Engines presents Morning, Fuckers: a traveling series for early risers. Join us for a Lit Walk-adjacent gathering of coffee, donuts, and short readings from seven authors. Featured Authors: Adam Voith, Avery Gregurich, Kyle Seibel, Julián Martinez, Kevin Allardice, Kat Hirsch, Warren C. Longmire, and Mike Nagel.

ICE CREAM Zine Fair

  11:00 AM - 5:00 PM

  Public Space One

8th annual ICE CREAM: Iowa City Expo for Comics and Real Eclectic Alternative Media — dozens of artists and small presses from IC and across the Midwest. Print will never die, says ICE CREAM!

Small Press & Literary Magazine Book Fair

  12:00 PM - 4:00 PM

  Spare Me! Bowling Alley

Not to be missed this year is the Small Press and Literary Magazine Book Fair, being hosted inside the second floor of Spare Me Bowling Alley. This singular event highlights the best of local and national presses, as well as the work of award-winning authors and publishers. This year’s featured presses also include: YesYes Books […]

Literary Translation: Magic, Conversation, and the Art of Community

  1:00 PM

  FilmScene Theater 3

Join translators and publishers Will Evans (Deep Vellum & Dalkey Archive & Open Letters), Bela Shayevich (University of Iowa), and Gary Lovely (Two Dollar Radio) for a timely and necessary conversation on the magic and art of translation in literary publishing. Will Evans is a publisher, translator, and entrepreneur with a knack for finding undertold, […]

MCF Vinyl Popup

  2:00 PM - 6:30 PM

  ReUnion Brewery

While music hits The ReUnion Brewery stage, flip through record crates from local vendors to find your next prized music possession! Vendors include: Bog’s Vinyl, Z’s Records, and Vinyl Underground Garage  

Srikanth Reddy in conversation with Donika Kelly

  2:00 PM

  FilmScene Theater 3

Srikanth Reddy is a poet, literary editor, and occasional book critic with an interest in inkblots, underworlds, erasures, and uncertain translations, among other topics. Since 2003, he has taught at the University of Chicago, where he offers courses on parody, obscenity, and contemporary literary publishing. His latest book of poetry, Underworld Lit, was a finalist […]

Samuel Locke Ward

  2:45 PM

  Trumpet Blossom Cafe

Samuel Locke Ward is a veteran avant-pop songwriter, home taper and comic zine maker.  Starting in the late 90’s he has released over 60+ DIY issue records both as a solo recording artist as well as recordings with bands and collaborators such as Miracles Of God, Jad Fair and Samuel Locke Ward, BBJR + SLW, […]

Ryan Joseph Anderson

  3:00 PM

  The TUESDAY Agency

Ryan Joseph Anderson’s solo career began in April 2014 with the release of his debut album, The Weaver’s Broom. The album, engineered and co-produced by Andrija Tokic (Alabama Shakes, Hooray for the Riff Raff), was hailed as one of the best Americana records of the year. Songs from The Weaver’s Broom made “best of” lists for […]

Torrey Peters

  3:00 PM

  Prairie Lights Bookstore

Torrey Peters is the bestselling author of the novel Detransition, Baby, which won the PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel and was named one of the 100 Best Books of the 21st Century by The New York Times. It was also a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle’s John Leonard Prize, a finalist for the Brooklyn Public Library Book […]

Ion Alexakis

  3:15 PM

  Reunion Brewery

An Iowa-based Noisemaker. MPC Universe. Chameleon. Tradesman. Ion wields a dynamic lyricism that centers liberatory values and rhetoric, making full use of multi-genre instrumental craftsmanship honed in through the MPC universe. Fresh off the release of his EP “Broken Glass” in January ’25, his music lays across a hip-hop canvass of familiarity with darkness and […]

Nadalands

  3:45 PM

  The TUESDAY Agency

Are the Nadalands found in the abandoned periphery of Caribbean cities or are they all around us? Amidst a strummed 12-string acoustic guitar, ambient soundscapes, and foreboding drones, Colorado-based songwriter John Lindenbaum (The Lonelyhearts, Rust Belt Music, The Distances) answers this question with densely lyrical tales of apocalyptic nostalgia. Two decades of live shows have […]

Slacker

  3:45 PM

  Trumpet Blossom Cafe

Slacker is two buddies from Iowa City who make Shit-Fueled Experimental Noise Rock.

Jack Lion

  4:15 PM

  Reunion Brewery

One of Iowa City’s premier bands, Jack Lion’s sound is a one-a-kind gem in the Iowa music landscape. Mixing some traditional jazz sounds with electronic music, Jack Lion’s music would please both Miles Davis and Nine Inch Nails fans.

Golden Birds

  4:30 PM

  The TUESDAY Agency

DC-born, Bay Area-bred, and Brooklyn-based, Golden Birds play literate experimental pop by turns labyrinthine and intimate — emphasis on the latter when in Iowa City, one of their favorite places in the world.

Good Habits

  4:45 PM

  Trumpet Blossom Cafe

Good Habits is a garage punk band from Iowa City, formed in 2010. Critically acclaimed, and chronically inflamed.

Alexis Stevens

  5:15 PM

  The TUESDAY Agency

Alexis Stevens is a Nashville-based singer-songwriter. Originally from Iowa, she bounced around western states in her 20s before returning to her roots, landing in Iowa City from 2008 to 2012. There, her favorite music memories were made, due in no small part to Mission Creek Festival. She independently released her debut album, Flood or Drought, […]

Jordan Sellergren

  5:30 PM

  Reunion Brewery

Jordan Sellergren is a musician, songwriter, artist and mother. She’s releasing her third full-length album this spring.

Sun Centauri

  7:00 PM

  Riverside Theatre

Sun Centauri is a future pop/R&B collaboration featuring wavy production from Jim Swim and soaring vocals from Alyx Rush. Whether writing summer bops or midnight laments, the duo prioritizes emotion through experimental sound design, harmony stacks, and live instrumentation. With two standout EPs already released under their individual names (Fruit to the Knife and After […]

Neko Case in reading and conversation with Melissa Febos

  7:00 PM

  Voxman Music Building

An unforgettable portrait of an extraordinary life—one forged through a poverty-stricken childhood in “slummy, one-horse towns”; obsessive desire; bursts of comedy; and indispensable friendships, reflecting on the way art, music, and a deep connection to nature helped her on a singular journey to become a beloved, Grammy-nominated artist. Neko Case has long been revered as […]

Supersonic Piss

  7:30 PM

  Gabe's

Supersonic Piss is a noisy and spastic punk band that calls Iowa City home. Taking influence from bands like Melt Banana, AIDS Wolf, and the all important de-tuned and hardly distinguishable melodies and riffage of Flipper, Supersonic Piss play a blown out and somewhat sludge influenced style of hardcore punk that is very unique and […]

William Elliott Whitmore

  8:00 PM

  The Englert Theatre

Born and raised on a small farm in Lee County Iowa, a love of the land has always been an important part of William Elliott Whitmore’s life. An appreciation for nature and its cycles being taught from an early age. That awareness of birth and death is a constant theme in the songwriting, through a […]

Dawn Richard + Spencer Zahn

  8:15 PM

  Riverside Theatre

Dawn Richard and Spencer Zahn share a common collaborative ethos, a genuine sense of musical curiosity, and a cosmopolitan eagerness to escape the conventions of genre. That shared vision first brought them together on 2022’s Pigments—icy and warm, stripped-down and grand, familiar and otherworldly—and now it has reunited them for Quiet in a World Full […]

The Tanks

  9:00 PM

  Gabe's

The Tanks are masters of disguise, pro-level Magic the Gathering players, as well as a bass and drums trio from Iowa City. Although their exact style is hard to pinpoint, influences can be seen in bands like Shallac, Karp, Lightning Bolt, the Vidablue, and most importantly the Jesus Lizard as well as the band Smoke […]

Cedar County Cobras

  9:00 PM

  The Black Angel

Cedar County Cobras arrive with an upright bass, foot drum, and several guitars to play American Roots & Blues music from the last century. The music takes on an “old time” blues feel that would most likely be found in a juke-joint down a gravel road in rural Iowa. They have played hundreds of shows […]

Raekwon

  9:45 PM

  The Englert Theatre

Performing his debut album “Only Built 4 Cuban Linx”

Mark Guiliana

  10:00 PM

  Riverside Theatre

Hailed by The New York Times as “a drummer around whom a cult of admiration has formed,” Grammy-nominated superstar drummer & composer Mark Guiliana brings an adventurous spirit, eclectic palette, and gift for spontaneous invention to a staggering range of styles. Equally virtuosic playing acoustic jazz, boundary-stretching electronic music, or next-level rock, he’s become a […]

DJ After Party

  10:00 PM

  Gabe's

A showdown that has been building through the ages. This could be tantamount to Frazier vs. Ali, Probert vs. Domi or Jimmy vs. Dalton. DJ Situps vs. DJ Crimson Mask will be closing out Mission Creek Saturday night. Save a little something in the tank and get your dancing shoes on.

Cabeza de Chivo

  11:00 PM

  Gabe's

Psychedelic tropical band emerging from Chicago. With infectious rhythms and a driving percussion section, guitar, bass, and organs blend seamlessly to deliver addictive dance music and melodic riffs.