Bestselling author and consummate funny person Samantha Irby, who rose to fame with her blog bitches gotta eat, will release a new essay collection, Wow, No Thank You, just days before headlining the first night of 2020 festivities. Known for her smart, edgy, hilarious, and unabashedly raunchy writing, Irby is also the author of the laugh-out-loud essay collections We’re Never Meeting in Real Life and Meaty. Join us for a reading and conversation with Megan Stielstra, winner of the 2017 Nonfiction Book of the Year from the Chicago Review of Books.
Piano, voice, composition and melody, these are the primary tools she wields to get through to…herself. Tools summoning words to assist in the recursively unfolding Undertaking; to confront and embrace hers and her family’s shadows. She angles lenses available to her; neo-colonialism, romantic rejection, overbearing anxiety, and the maddening oscillations (often overlaps) of invisibility and […]
Groovy. Intimate. Loungey. And of course, neighborly. These are the words Pink Neighbor embodies in sound and vibe. Based in Grinnell, Iowa, multi-instrumentalists Katie In and Erik Jarvis have worked patiently on their songwriting crafts since their teenage years. The deft and diverse output of Pink Neighbor makes this apparent, as they draw from the […]
Irreversible Entanglements are a liberation-oriented free jazz collective formed in early 2015 by saxophonist Keir Neuringer, poet Camae Ayewa (a.k.a. Moor Mother) and bassist Luke Stewart, who came together to perform at a Musicians Against Police Brutality event organized after the slaying of Akai Gurley by the NYPD. Months later, the group added trumpeter Aquiles […]
An obsession with money, an unfaithful lover, a friend’s accidental pregnancy, misogyny, loneliness, death… This is just some of the lighthearted subject matter that make up LONER––the darkly comedic second album from songwriter/producer Caroline Rose. Armed with an arsenal of new instruments and equipment, an ever-growing sense of “ahhh fuck it,” two years of exploration, […]
Katherine Paul is Black Belt Eagle Scout. Released in September of 2018, Mother of My Children was the debut album from Black Belt Eagle Scout, the recording project of Katherine Paul. Heralded as a favorite new musician of 2018 by the likes of NPR Music, Stereogum, and Paste, the album was also named as a […]
Piano, voice, composition and melody, these are the primary tools she wields to get through to…herself. Tools summoning words to assist in the recursively unfolding Undertaking; to confront and embrace hers and her family’s shadows. She angles lenses available to her; neo-colonialism, romantic rejection, overbearing anxiety, and the maddening oscillations (often overlaps) of invisibility and […]
Groovy. Intimate. Loungey. And of course, neighborly. These are the words Pink Neighbor embodies in sound and vibe. Based in Grinnell, Iowa, multi-instrumentalists Katie In and Erik Jarvis have worked patiently on their songwriting crafts since their teenage years. The deft and diverse output of Pink Neighbor makes this apparent, as they draw from the […]
Irreversible Entanglements are a liberation-oriented free jazz collective formed in early 2015 by saxophonist Keir Neuringer, poet Camae Ayewa (a.k.a. Moor Mother) and bassist Luke Stewart, who came together to perform at a Musicians Against Police Brutality event organized after the slaying of Akai Gurley by the NYPD. Months later, the group added trumpeter Aquiles […]
An obsession with money, an unfaithful lover, a friend’s accidental pregnancy, misogyny, loneliness, death… This is just some of the lighthearted subject matter that make up LONER––the darkly comedic second album from songwriter/producer Caroline Rose. Armed with an arsenal of new instruments and equipment, an ever-growing sense of “ahhh fuck it,” two years of exploration, […]
Katherine Paul is Black Belt Eagle Scout. Released in September of 2018, Mother of My Children was the debut album from Black Belt Eagle Scout, the recording project of Katherine Paul. Heralded as a favorite new musician of 2018 by the likes of NPR Music, Stereogum, and Paste, the album was also named as a […]
Bestselling author and consummate funny person Samantha Irby, who rose to fame with her blog bitches gotta eat, will release a new essay collection, Wow, No Thank You, just days before headlining the first night of 2020 festivities. Known for her smart, edgy, hilarious, and unabashedly raunchy writing, Irby is also the author of the laugh-out-loud essay collections We’re Never Meeting in Real Life and Meaty. Join us for a reading and conversation with Megan Stielstra, winner of the 2017 Nonfiction Book of the Year from the Chicago Review of Books.
Dan Padley is a guitarist/composer based out of Iowa City, IA. Since studying music at the University of Iowa, Dan has performed with many artists including Wayne Newton, Elizabeth Moen, River Glen, Dana T, Blake Shaw, comedian Jimmy Pardo, and many more. Dan has released several albums and EPs, including his most recent full length […]
Jenny Offill, the author of the nationwide best seller Dept. of Speculation, reads from her new book Weather, a shimmering tour de force about a family and a nation in crisis.
Lonnie Holley was born on February 10, 1950 in Birmingham, Alabama. From the age of five, Holley worked various jobs: picking up trash at a drive-in movie theatre, washing dishes, and cooking. He lived in a whiskey house, on the state fairgrounds, and in several foster homes. His early life was chaotic and Holley was […]
Nadah El Shazly is a singer and composer living and working in Cairo. She released her critically acclaimed debut album AHWAR in Nov 2017 via Nawa Recordings. Backing up her release with extensive worldwide touring through a solo set and a four-piece band, El Shazly has been featured in local and international festivals including Le […]
Wide Awake! is New York’s Parquet Courts’ fifth record since their formation eight years ago. It’s also their most groundbreaking. It’s an album about independence and individuality but also about collectivity and communitarianism. Love is at its center. There’s also a freshness here, a breaking of new territory that’s testament to the group’s restless spirit. […]
Pulsing is the Quad Cities’ video game rock band! Pulsing uses guitar, drums, and gameboy to create energetic 8-bit tunes that will keep people dancing, laughing, and feeling like kids again. Hyper melodies, frantic beats and happy bleeps bring back memories of playing videogames at a friend’s house on a Saturday night. Pulsing is about […]
The Necks are one of the great cult bands of Australia. Chris Abrahams (piano), Tony Buck (drums), and Lloyd Swanton (bass) conjure a chemistry together that defies description in orthodox terms. Featuring lengthy pieces which slowly unravel in the most mesmerizing fashion, frequently underpinned by an insistent deep groove, the eighteen albums by The Necks […]
Tropical Fuck Storm is an Australian band from Melbourne, Victoria formed by Gareth Liddiard and Fiona Kitschin after taking a hiatus from the art-punk psych band The Drones. Lauren Hammel, from the band High Tension, plays drums and Erica Dunn, from the bands Harmony and Palm Springs, plays guitars, keys and other instruments.
Dan Padley is a guitarist/composer based out of Iowa City, IA. Since studying music at the University of Iowa, Dan has performed with many artists including Wayne Newton, Elizabeth Moen, River Glen, Dana T, Blake Shaw, comedian Jimmy Pardo, and many more. Dan has released several albums and EPs, including his most recent full length […]
Lonnie Holley was born on February 10, 1950 in Birmingham, Alabama. From the age of five, Holley worked various jobs: picking up trash at a drive-in movie theatre, washing dishes, and cooking. He lived in a whiskey house, on the state fairgrounds, and in several foster homes. His early life was chaotic and Holley was […]
Nadah El Shazly is a singer and composer living and working in Cairo. She released her critically acclaimed debut album AHWAR in Nov 2017 via Nawa Recordings. Backing up her release with extensive worldwide touring through a solo set and a four-piece band, El Shazly has been featured in local and international festivals including Le […]
Wide Awake! is New York’s Parquet Courts’ fifth record since their formation eight years ago. It’s also their most groundbreaking. It’s an album about independence and individuality but also about collectivity and communitarianism. Love is at its center. There’s also a freshness here, a breaking of new territory that’s testament to the group’s restless spirit. […]
Pulsing is the Quad Cities’ video game rock band! Pulsing uses guitar, drums, and gameboy to create energetic 8-bit tunes that will keep people dancing, laughing, and feeling like kids again. Hyper melodies, frantic beats and happy bleeps bring back memories of playing videogames at a friend’s house on a Saturday night. Pulsing is about […]
The Necks are one of the great cult bands of Australia. Chris Abrahams (piano), Tony Buck (drums), and Lloyd Swanton (bass) conjure a chemistry together that defies description in orthodox terms. Featuring lengthy pieces which slowly unravel in the most mesmerizing fashion, frequently underpinned by an insistent deep groove, the eighteen albums by The Necks […]
Tropical Fuck Storm is an Australian band from Melbourne, Victoria formed by Gareth Liddiard and Fiona Kitschin after taking a hiatus from the art-punk psych band The Drones. Lauren Hammel, from the band High Tension, plays drums and Erica Dunn, from the bands Harmony and Palm Springs, plays guitars, keys and other instruments.
Jenny Offill, the author of the nationwide best seller Dept. of Speculation, reads from her new book Weather, a shimmering tour de force about a family and a nation in crisis.
Jenny Offill, the author of the nationwide best seller Dept. of Speculation, reads from her new book Weather, a shimmering tour de force about a family and a nation in crisis.
Join us for the 7th annual Iowa City Expo for Comics and Real Eclectic Media (I.C.E. C.R.E.A.M.) Zine Fair, presenting the work of local cartoonists, zinesters, and art books/handmade book artists. ICE CREAM is collaboratively presented by Public Space One and the Mission Creek Festival, with support from Think Iowa City. Find vendors HERE
Not to be missed this year is the Small Press and Literary Magazine Book Fair, being hosted inside 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 such as Sarabande Books, Dorothy, a publishing project, Two Dollar Radio, Container, […]
Zachary Pace is a writer and editor who lives in New York City, whose writing has been published in the Baffler, BOMB, Bookforum, Boston Review, Frieze magazine, Interview magazine, Literary Hub, the Los Angeles Review of Books, the PEN Poetry Series, the Yale Review, and elsewhere. I Sing to Use the Waiting is their first […]
Featuring Walid Rachedi, writer and Managing Editor of Paris-based Frictions Media, Lionel Ruffel, Professor of Comparative Literature at Université Paris 8, Lynne Nugent, writer and editor-in-chief of the Iowa Review, as well as students from Frictions + UI. The panel moderator will be Sarah Minor. A showcase of transnational nonfiction podcasts and audio literature. This […]
Cindy Juyoung Ok is the author of Yale Younger Poets Prize-winning Ward Toward. A MacDowell Fellow, Kenyon Review Fellow, and poetry editor at Guernica magazine, she is a former high school science teacher and now teaches creative writing at Kenyon College. Her poems are out now or soon in New England Review, Sewanee Review, and […]
Installation + discussion featuring Midst creator Annelyse Gelman. Annelyse Gelman’s most recent book, Vexations (University of Chicago Press, 2023), won the 2022 James Laughlin Award from the Academy of American Poets and was longlisted for the National Book Award. Gelman is also the author of the poetry collection Everyone I Love Is a Stranger to Someone […]
Katie Berta’s debut poetry collection, retribution forthcoming, won the Hollis Summers Prize and was published by Ohio University Press in March. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Ploughshares, The Cincinnati Review, The Kenyon Review, Prairie Schooner, Denver Quarterly, The Yale Review, The Massachusetts Review, and West Branch, among other magazines. She has received […]
In partnership with Sarabande Books, co-hosted by NPR’s Luke Burbank + UI Nonfiction Writing Program Alum Elena Passarello, featuring Morgan Parker, Carmen Maria Machado, Simon Sheih, + S.G. Goodman. Live Wire Radio is a dynamically entertaining live radio show that artfully blends conversation and live music. Hosted by NPR’s Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me’s Luke […]
Join us for the 7th annual Iowa City Expo for Comics and Real Eclectic Media (I.C.E. C.R.E.A.M.) Zine Fair, presenting the work of local cartoonists, zinesters, and art books/handmade book artists. ICE CREAM is collaboratively presented by Public Space One and the Mission Creek Festival, with support from Think Iowa City. Find vendors HERE
Not to be missed this year is the Small Press and Literary Magazine Book Fair, being hosted inside 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 such as Sarabande Books, Dorothy, a publishing project, Two Dollar Radio, Container, […]
Zachary Pace is a writer and editor who lives in New York City, whose writing has been published in the Baffler, BOMB, Bookforum, Boston Review, Frieze magazine, Interview magazine, Literary Hub, the Los Angeles Review of Books, the PEN Poetry Series, the Yale Review, and elsewhere. I Sing to Use the Waiting is their first […]
Featuring Walid Rachedi, writer and Managing Editor of Paris-based Frictions Media, Lionel Ruffel, Professor of Comparative Literature at Université Paris 8, Lynne Nugent, writer and editor-in-chief of the Iowa Review, as well as students from Frictions + UI. The panel moderator will be Sarah Minor. A showcase of transnational nonfiction podcasts and audio literature. This […]
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, Banana Boy Records, & Rochester Records
Cindy Juyoung Ok is the author of Yale Younger Poets Prize-winning Ward Toward. A MacDowell Fellow, Kenyon Review Fellow, and poetry editor at Guernica magazine, she is a former high school science teacher and now teaches creative writing at Kenyon College. Her poems are out now or soon in New England Review, Sewanee Review, and […]
Installation + discussion featuring Midst creator Annelyse Gelman. Annelyse Gelman’s most recent book, Vexations (University of Chicago Press, 2023), won the 2022 James Laughlin Award from the Academy of American Poets and was longlisted for the National Book Award. Gelman is also the author of the poetry collection Everyone I Love Is a Stranger to Someone […]
Katie Berta’s debut poetry collection, retribution forthcoming, won the Hollis Summers Prize and was published by Ohio University Press in March. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Ploughshares, The Cincinnati Review, The Kenyon Review, Prairie Schooner, Denver Quarterly, The Yale Review, The Massachusetts Review, and West Branch, among other magazines. She has received […]
KRUI 89.7 FM TURNS 40!! Celebrate four decades of UIOWA college radio at our 40th Birthday Bash! Mark your calendars for Saturday, April 6th for our celebration in collaboration with Mission Creek featuring live music from OHYUNG and Blist Her Main KRUI anniversary begins at 3:00 pm (w/ cake!) Doors open for concert at 4:30 […]
The Blake Shaw BIG(ish) Band is an action packed, fun ensuing, dream band lead by bassist/vocalist/educator Blake Shaw of Iowa City. Shaw writes and arranges all the music using the Duke Ellington model of exploiting all his friends’ talents and strengths on their instruments. The show contains many burning solos, grooves for days, and plenty […]
Committed to experiencing music as it occurs, New Standards Men (NSM for true heads) work through cycles of improvisation and experimentation for long stretches at a time, often building on the bedrock laid by what dirtier minds call ‘jamming’ and is also referred to as ‘stretching’ out. Previous excursions into the motorik mode have given […]
Subatlantic, an indie rock band based in the Quad Cities, where Iowa and Illinois meet, features Becca Rice–lead vocals, guitar, and keyboards; Adam Kaul–guitar; Phil Pracht–drums; and Sean Chapman–bass and cello. Subatlantic formed in 2008 and released their first EP, Not Louder But Closer in May of 2015 on Bandcamp. Their first album, Villains, came […]
Iowa City hardcore punk from the prairie. Bootcamp is a Hardcore Punk band from Iowa City, IA featuring members of Dryad, Piss Exorcist and Death Kill Overdrive. They formed in May, 2023. They released their Demo on August 15th, 2023. Their Instagram is https://www.instagram.com/bootcamphotties
Dave Helmer is a songwriter’s songwriter from eastern Iowa. Helmer has toured across the country for over ten years with his rock pop group Crystal City, and adds the Dave Helmer Band as his newest project. In addition to his music career, Helmer’s love of guitar is reflected through his work as a professional luthier […]
24thankyou is an unstable collection of distortion and intimacy from Iowa City. FFO: Beach House, Dijon, The Microphones, 100 Gecs, JPEG Mafia Members: Emma Parker (She/Her) Scott Griffin (He/Him) Michael Muhlena (He/Him) Nick Wilkins (He/Him) Ethan Traugh (He/Him)
m denney is a sound artist, electronic musician, guitarist, writer, and occasionally lies about being a composer. Her practice focuses on the use of ritualized repetitive action, engaging technology and destructive, uncontrollable recording processes as ways of exploring memory, self, and the construction of our pasts and histories. Called “haunting,” “violently joyful,” and “fever dream […]
“No one escapes the marks left behind when it comes to love or the absence of it,” says singer-songwriter S.G. Goodman, describing the inspiration behind her sophomore album Teeth Marks. “Not only are we the ones who bear its indentations, but we’re also the ones responsible for placing them on ourselves and others.” When the […]
Nadah el Shazly is a producer, vocalist and sound artist from Cairo, Egypt. Her debut album “Ahwar” radically reinvents the popular music of her homeland from the early 19th century and explores new sonic and harmonic frontiers. Using voice, field recordings and instruments, she creates haunting sound pieces and songforms that hijack the perception of […]
Shawn Jarrett also known as Sqvce (Space) is a Des Moines-based hip hop artist who has made a name for himself in the music industry. He is known for his exceptional ability to adapt to any flow or beat, making him a versatile artist. With years of experience in the game, Space has honed his […]
Headlining Saturday is San Francisco psych rock band, Osees (formerly known as OCS, The Oh Sees, and Thee Oh Sees). They have released 28 studio albums alongside countless EPs, singles, and even a split with Iowa City songwriter, Paul Carey. The band’s leader, John Dwyer, is regarded as an institution of 21st century garage rock. […]
Pelada, the duo of singer Chris Vargas and producer Tobias Rochman, broke out of Montreal’s underground warehouse rave scene in 2014 after uploading tracks to Soundcloud which caught the attention of the global dance music scene. They spent the next five years touring the globe extensively before signing with Berlin experimental label PAN in 2019 […]
Join us for the 7th annual Iowa City Expo for Comics and Real Eclectic Media (I.C.E. C.R.E.A.M.) Zine Fair, presenting the work of local cartoonists, zinesters, and art books/handmade book artists. ICE CREAM is collaboratively presented by Public Space One and the Mission Creek Festival, with support from Think Iowa City. Find vendors HERE
Not to be missed this year is the Small Press and Literary Magazine Book Fair, being hosted inside 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 such as Sarabande Books, Dorothy, a publishing project, Two Dollar Radio, Container, […]
Featuring Walid Rachedi, writer and Managing Editor of Paris-based Frictions Media, Lionel Ruffel, Professor of Comparative Literature at Université Paris 8, Lynne Nugent, writer and editor-in-chief of the Iowa Review, as well as students from Frictions + UI. The panel moderator will be Sarah Minor. A showcase of transnational nonfiction podcasts and audio literature. This […]
Zachary Pace is a writer and editor who lives in New York City, whose writing has been published in the Baffler, BOMB, Bookforum, Boston Review, Frieze magazine, Interview magazine, Literary Hub, the Los Angeles Review of Books, the PEN Poetry Series, the Yale Review, and elsewhere. I Sing to Use the Waiting is their first […]
Installation + discussion featuring Midst creator Annelyse Gelman. Annelyse Gelman’s most recent book, Vexations (University of Chicago Press, 2023), won the 2022 James Laughlin Award from the Academy of American Poets and was longlisted for the National Book Award. Gelman is also the author of the poetry collection Everyone I Love Is a Stranger to Someone […]
Cindy Juyoung Ok is the author of Yale Younger Poets Prize-winning Ward Toward. A MacDowell Fellow, Kenyon Review Fellow, and poetry editor at Guernica magazine, she is a former high school science teacher and now teaches creative writing at Kenyon College. Her poems are out now or soon in New England Review, Sewanee Review, and […]
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, Banana Boy Records, & Rochester Records
Katie Berta’s debut poetry collection, retribution forthcoming, won the Hollis Summers Prize and was published by Ohio University Press in March. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Ploughshares, The Cincinnati Review, The Kenyon Review, Prairie Schooner, Denver Quarterly, The Yale Review, The Massachusetts Review, and West Branch, among other magazines. She has received […]
The Blake Shaw BIG(ish) Band is an action packed, fun ensuing, dream band lead by bassist/vocalist/educator Blake Shaw of Iowa City. Shaw writes and arranges all the music using the Duke Ellington model of exploiting all his friends’ talents and strengths on their instruments. The show contains many burning solos, grooves for days, and plenty […]
Committed to experiencing music as it occurs, New Standards Men (NSM for true heads) work through cycles of improvisation and experimentation for long stretches at a time, often building on the bedrock laid by what dirtier minds call ‘jamming’ and is also referred to as ‘stretching’ out. Previous excursions into the motorik mode have given […]
Subatlantic, an indie rock band based in the Quad Cities, where Iowa and Illinois meet, features Becca Rice–lead vocals, guitar, and keyboards; Adam Kaul–guitar; Phil Pracht–drums; and Sean Chapman–bass and cello. Subatlantic formed in 2008 and released their first EP, Not Louder But Closer in May of 2015 on Bandcamp. Their first album, Villains, came […]
Iowa City hardcore punk from the prairie. Bootcamp is a Hardcore Punk band from Iowa City, IA featuring members of Dryad, Piss Exorcist and Death Kill Overdrive. They formed in May, 2023. They released their Demo on August 15th, 2023. Their Instagram is https://www.instagram.com/bootcamphotties
KRUI 89.7 FM TURNS 40!! Celebrate four decades of UIOWA college radio at our 40th Birthday Bash! Mark your calendars for Saturday, April 6th for our celebration in collaboration with Mission Creek featuring live music from OHYUNG and Blist Her Main KRUI anniversary begins at 3:00 pm (w/ cake!) Doors open for concert at 4:30 […]
Dave Helmer is a songwriter’s songwriter from eastern Iowa. Helmer has toured across the country for over ten years with his rock pop group Crystal City, and adds the Dave Helmer Band as his newest project. In addition to his music career, Helmer’s love of guitar is reflected through his work as a professional luthier […]
In partnership with Sarabande Books, co-hosted by NPR’s Luke Burbank + UI Nonfiction Writing Program Alum Elena Passarello, featuring Morgan Parker, Carmen Maria Machado, Simon Sheih, + S.G. Goodman. Live Wire Radio is a dynamically entertaining live radio show that artfully blends conversation and live music. Hosted by NPR’s Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me’s Luke […]
24thankyou is an unstable collection of distortion and intimacy from Iowa City. FFO: Beach House, Dijon, The Microphones, 100 Gecs, JPEG Mafia Members: Emma Parker (She/Her) Scott Griffin (He/Him) Michael Muhlena (He/Him) Nick Wilkins (He/Him) Ethan Traugh (He/Him)
m denney is a sound artist, electronic musician, guitarist, writer, and occasionally lies about being a composer. Her practice focuses on the use of ritualized repetitive action, engaging technology and destructive, uncontrollable recording processes as ways of exploring memory, self, and the construction of our pasts and histories. Called “haunting,” “violently joyful,” and “fever dream […]
“No one escapes the marks left behind when it comes to love or the absence of it,” says singer-songwriter S.G. Goodman, describing the inspiration behind her sophomore album Teeth Marks. “Not only are we the ones who bear its indentations, but we’re also the ones responsible for placing them on ourselves and others.” When the […]
Nadah el Shazly is a producer, vocalist and sound artist from Cairo, Egypt. Her debut album “Ahwar” radically reinvents the popular music of her homeland from the early 19th century and explores new sonic and harmonic frontiers. Using voice, field recordings and instruments, she creates haunting sound pieces and songforms that hijack the perception of […]
Shawn Jarrett also known as Sqvce (Space) is a Des Moines-based hip hop artist who has made a name for himself in the music industry. He is known for his exceptional ability to adapt to any flow or beat, making him a versatile artist. With years of experience in the game, Space has honed his […]
Headlining Saturday is San Francisco psych rock band, Osees (formerly known as OCS, The Oh Sees, and Thee Oh Sees). They have released 28 studio albums alongside countless EPs, singles, and even a split with Iowa City songwriter, Paul Carey. The band’s leader, John Dwyer, is regarded as an institution of 21st century garage rock. […]
Pelada, the duo of singer Chris Vargas and producer Tobias Rochman, broke out of Montreal’s underground warehouse rave scene in 2014 after uploading tracks to Soundcloud which caught the attention of the global dance music scene. They spent the next five years touring the globe extensively before signing with Berlin experimental label PAN in 2019 […]
The annual MCF Lit Walk returns in 2024 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. Revival: Event Host: Christine Byrne Readers: Devanshi Khetarpal / Dabin Jeong / Vivien […]
The annual MCF Lit Walk returns in 2024 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 and local out-of-town writers. Revival: Event Host: Mofiyinfoluwa O. Readers: Sunny Ahmed / James Zhenghui Zhu / […]
This special conversation on 2023’s Critical Hits Anthology: Writers Playing Video Games features Carmen Maria Machado, J. Robert Lennon, and Larissa Pham. Carmen Maria Machado is the author of the bestselling memoir In the Dream House, the graphic novel The Low, Low Woods, and the award-winning short story collection Her Body and Other Parties. […]
Walk yourself down the hill and into the Green House to celebrate the conclusion of the Lit Walk. Grab a kombucha or a cocktail and chat about which reading most piqued your curiosity.
The annual MCF Lit Walk returns in 2024 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. Revival: Event Host: Christine Byrne Readers: Devanshi Khetarpal / Dabin Jeong / Vivien […]
The annual MCF Lit Walk returns in 2024 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 and local out-of-town writers. Revival: Event Host: Mofiyinfoluwa O. Readers: Sunny Ahmed / James Zhenghui Zhu / […]
This special conversation on 2023’s Critical Hits Anthology: Writers Playing Video Games features Carmen Maria Machado, J. Robert Lennon, and Larissa Pham. Carmen Maria Machado is the author of the bestselling memoir In the Dream House, the graphic novel The Low, Low Woods, and the award-winning short story collection Her Body and Other Parties. […]
Walk yourself down the hill and into the Green House to celebrate the conclusion of the Lit Walk. Grab a kombucha or a cocktail and chat about which reading most piqued your curiosity.
Single File is two best friends using music to explore social, spiritual and emotional territories, conjuring both dancing and trance-like states, with vocals likened to Bjork and Imogen Heap.
Strangers Of Necessity are an American hip-hop duo, based in the Midwest, consisting of prolific producer, CoryaYo and veteran lyricist, Fooch the MC. They linked via twitter and quickly became friends, sparking an immediate chemistry and need to make quality music together; hence the name Strangers Of Necessity. They instantly began recording music and doing […]
George Clanton doesn’t just produce gleaming electronic pop, he produces nostalgia too. The Los Angeles artist’s process involves tweaking synthesizer presets, but beyond searching for the right melodies and textures, he’s hoping to come upon a sound that strikes a spiritual chord. “I’m looking for something that triggers a memory or an emotion,” he says. […]
Hatis Noit is a Japanese vocal performer hailing from distant Shiretoko in Hokkaido who now resides in London. Her accomplished range is astonishingly self-taught, inspired by everything she could find from Gagaku — Japanese classical music — and operatic styles, Bulgarian and Gregorian chanting, to avant-garde and pop vocalists. It was at the age of […]
Anthony Worden is an Iowa City based singer-songwriter who has made four full length albums since 2017 both solo and with his band, The Illiterati. Little Village says: “Anthony Worden is, in a word, ambitious. He wants to use every color on the palette in his songs — and even in the moments when it’s […]
“I was finally able to trust myself fully,” says Indigo De Souza of making her masterful third album All of This Will End. When the North Carolina-based artist released her compelling and explosive second LP Any Shape You Take in 2021, it led to a successful year of sold out tours and rave reviews from […]
“I feel like there are two sides of me,” says the Nashville-based singer-songwriter and guitar virtuoso known as Sunny War. “One of them is very self-destructive, and the other is trying to work with that other half to keep things balanced.” That’s the central conflict on her fourth album, the eclectic and innovative Anarchist Gospel, […]
ARMAND HAMMER, the New York based hip-hop duo consisting of ELUCID and billy woods, return with We Buy Diabetic Test Strips, their first album in two years and first for Fat Possum. In the 2 years since the Alchemist produced Haram, ELUCID and billy woods have both released critically acclaimed solo albums. Back with their […]
The annual MCF Lit Walk returns in 2024 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. Revival: Event Host: Christine Byrne Readers: Devanshi Khetarpal / Dabin Jeong / Vivien […]
The annual MCF Lit Walk returns in 2024 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 and local out-of-town writers. Revival: Event Host: Mofiyinfoluwa O. Readers: Sunny Ahmed / James Zhenghui Zhu / […]
Single File is two best friends using music to explore social, spiritual and emotional territories, conjuring both dancing and trance-like states, with vocals likened to Bjork and Imogen Heap.
Strangers Of Necessity are an American hip-hop duo, based in the Midwest, consisting of prolific producer, CoryaYo and veteran lyricist, Fooch the MC. They linked via twitter and quickly became friends, sparking an immediate chemistry and need to make quality music together; hence the name Strangers Of Necessity. They instantly began recording music and doing […]
This special conversation on 2023’s Critical Hits Anthology: Writers Playing Video Games features Carmen Maria Machado, J. Robert Lennon, and Larissa Pham. Carmen Maria Machado is the author of the bestselling memoir In the Dream House, the graphic novel The Low, Low Woods, and the award-winning short story collection Her Body and Other Parties. […]
George Clanton doesn’t just produce gleaming electronic pop, he produces nostalgia too. The Los Angeles artist’s process involves tweaking synthesizer presets, but beyond searching for the right melodies and textures, he’s hoping to come upon a sound that strikes a spiritual chord. “I’m looking for something that triggers a memory or an emotion,” he says. […]
Hatis Noit is a Japanese vocal performer hailing from distant Shiretoko in Hokkaido who now resides in London. Her accomplished range is astonishingly self-taught, inspired by everything she could find from Gagaku — Japanese classical music — and operatic styles, Bulgarian and Gregorian chanting, to avant-garde and pop vocalists. It was at the age of […]
Walk yourself down the hill and into the Green House to celebrate the conclusion of the Lit Walk. Grab a kombucha or a cocktail and chat about which reading most piqued your curiosity.
Anthony Worden is an Iowa City based singer-songwriter who has made four full length albums since 2017 both solo and with his band, The Illiterati. Little Village says: “Anthony Worden is, in a word, ambitious. He wants to use every color on the palette in his songs — and even in the moments when it’s […]
“I was finally able to trust myself fully,” says Indigo De Souza of making her masterful third album All of This Will End. When the North Carolina-based artist released her compelling and explosive second LP Any Shape You Take in 2021, it led to a successful year of sold out tours and rave reviews from […]
“I feel like there are two sides of me,” says the Nashville-based singer-songwriter and guitar virtuoso known as Sunny War. “One of them is very self-destructive, and the other is trying to work with that other half to keep things balanced.” That’s the central conflict on her fourth album, the eclectic and innovative Anarchist Gospel, […]
ARMAND HAMMER, the New York based hip-hop duo consisting of ELUCID and billy woods, return with We Buy Diabetic Test Strips, their first album in two years and first for Fat Possum. In the 2 years since the Alchemist produced Haram, ELUCID and billy woods have both released critically acclaimed solo albums. Back with their […]
Hanif Abdurraqib is a poet, essayist, and cultural critic from Columbus, Ohio. His poetry has been published in Muzzle, Vinyl, PEN American, and various other journals. His essays and music criticism have been published in The FADER, Pitchfork, The New Yorker, and The New York Times. His first full length poetry collection, The Crown Ain’t […]
Tisa Bryant is the author of hybrid essay collection Unexplained Presence. She is co-editor of the cross-referenced literary journal, The Encyclopedia Project, and collaborates with Ernest Hardy on The Black Book series of visual mixtape love letters to black people and black culture, at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles. Her writing has appeared in […]
L’Rain’s artistic evolution eschews overarching narratives. Multi-layered in subject and form, L’Rain’s sonic explorations interrogate instead how multiplicities of emotion and experience intersect with identity. The experimental and the hyper-commercial; the expectation and the reality; the hope and the despair. L’Rain is searching for balance in the obliteration of binary logic. L’Rain is the musical […]
Neko Case steps out, cutting the sky and singing the stars, spinning fury and mercy as she goes. She loves the world and wears her heart on her sleeve, but she might eat it before you get to thinking it belongs to you. Wild Creatures pulls together some high points of feral joy from twenty-one […]
Hanif Abdurraqib is a poet, essayist, and cultural critic from Columbus, Ohio. His poetry has been published in Muzzle, Vinyl, PEN American, and various other journals. His essays and music criticism have been published in The FADER, Pitchfork, The New Yorker, and The New York Times. His first full length poetry collection, The Crown Ain’t […]
Tisa Bryant is the author of hybrid essay collection Unexplained Presence. She is co-editor of the cross-referenced literary journal, The Encyclopedia Project, and collaborates with Ernest Hardy on The Black Book series of visual mixtape love letters to black people and black culture, at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles. Her writing has appeared in […]
L’Rain’s artistic evolution eschews overarching narratives. Multi-layered in subject and form, L’Rain’s sonic explorations interrogate instead how multiplicities of emotion and experience intersect with identity. The experimental and the hyper-commercial; the expectation and the reality; the hope and the despair. L’Rain is searching for balance in the obliteration of binary logic. L’Rain is the musical […]
Neko Case steps out, cutting the sky and singing the stars, spinning fury and mercy as she goes. She loves the world and wears her heart on her sleeve, but she might eat it before you get to thinking it belongs to you. Wild Creatures pulls together some high points of feral joy from twenty-one […]
Join us for the 7th annual Iowa City Expo for Comics and Real Eclectic Media (I.C.E. C.R.E.A.M.) Zine Fair, presenting the work of local cartoonists, zinesters, and art books/handmade book artists. ICE CREAM is collaboratively presented by Public Space One and the Mission Creek Festival, with support from Think Iowa City. Find vendors HERE
Not to be missed this year is the Small Press and Literary Magazine Book Fair, being hosted inside 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 such as Sarabande Books, Dorothy, a publishing project, Two Dollar Radio, Container, […]
Featuring Walid Rachedi, writer and Managing Editor of Paris-based Frictions Media, Lionel Ruffel, Professor of Comparative Literature at Université Paris 8, Lynne Nugent, writer and editor-in-chief of the Iowa Review, as well as students from Frictions + UI. The panel moderator will be Sarah Minor. A showcase of transnational nonfiction podcasts and audio literature. This […]
Zachary Pace is a writer and editor who lives in New York City, whose writing has been published in the Baffler, BOMB, Bookforum, Boston Review, Frieze magazine, Interview magazine, Literary Hub, the Los Angeles Review of Books, the PEN Poetry Series, the Yale Review, and elsewhere. I Sing to Use the Waiting is their first […]
Installation + discussion featuring Midst creator Annelyse Gelman. Annelyse Gelman’s most recent book, Vexations (University of Chicago Press, 2023), won the 2022 James Laughlin Award from the Academy of American Poets and was longlisted for the National Book Award. Gelman is also the author of the poetry collection Everyone I Love Is a Stranger to Someone […]
Cindy Juyoung Ok is the author of Yale Younger Poets Prize-winning Ward Toward. A MacDowell Fellow, Kenyon Review Fellow, and poetry editor at Guernica magazine, she is a former high school science teacher and now teaches creative writing at Kenyon College. Her poems are out now or soon in New England Review, Sewanee Review, and […]
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, Banana Boy Records, & Rochester Records
Katie Berta’s debut poetry collection, retribution forthcoming, won the Hollis Summers Prize and was published by Ohio University Press in March. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Ploughshares, The Cincinnati Review, The Kenyon Review, Prairie Schooner, Denver Quarterly, The Yale Review, The Massachusetts Review, and West Branch, among other magazines. She has received […]
The Blake Shaw BIG(ish) Band is an action packed, fun ensuing, dream band lead by bassist/vocalist/educator Blake Shaw of Iowa City. Shaw writes and arranges all the music using the Duke Ellington model of exploiting all his friends’ talents and strengths on their instruments. The show contains many burning solos, grooves for days, and plenty […]
Committed to experiencing music as it occurs, New Standards Men (NSM for true heads) work through cycles of improvisation and experimentation for long stretches at a time, often building on the bedrock laid by what dirtier minds call ‘jamming’ and is also referred to as ‘stretching’ out. Previous excursions into the motorik mode have given […]
Subatlantic, an indie rock band based in the Quad Cities, where Iowa and Illinois meet, features Becca Rice–lead vocals, guitar, and keyboards; Adam Kaul–guitar; Phil Pracht–drums; and Sean Chapman–bass and cello. Subatlantic formed in 2008 and released their first EP, Not Louder But Closer in May of 2015 on Bandcamp. Their first album, Villains, came […]
Iowa City hardcore punk from the prairie. Bootcamp is a Hardcore Punk band from Iowa City, IA featuring members of Dryad, Piss Exorcist and Death Kill Overdrive. They formed in May, 2023. They released their Demo on August 15th, 2023. Their Instagram is https://www.instagram.com/bootcamphotties
KRUI 89.7 FM TURNS 40!! Celebrate four decades of UIOWA college radio at our 40th Birthday Bash! Mark your calendars for Saturday, April 6th for our celebration in collaboration with Mission Creek featuring live music from OHYUNG and Blist Her Main KRUI anniversary begins at 3:00 pm (w/ cake!) Doors open for concert at 4:30 […]
Dave Helmer is a songwriter’s songwriter from eastern Iowa. Helmer has toured across the country for over ten years with his rock pop group Crystal City, and adds the Dave Helmer Band as his newest project. In addition to his music career, Helmer’s love of guitar is reflected through his work as a professional luthier […]
In partnership with Sarabande Books, co-hosted by NPR’s Luke Burbank + UI Nonfiction Writing Program Alum Elena Passarello, featuring Morgan Parker, Carmen Maria Machado, Simon Sheih, + S.G. Goodman. Live Wire Radio is a dynamically entertaining live radio show that artfully blends conversation and live music. Hosted by NPR’s Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me’s Luke […]
24thankyou is an unstable collection of distortion and intimacy from Iowa City. FFO: Beach House, Dijon, The Microphones, 100 Gecs, JPEG Mafia Members: Emma Parker (She/Her) Scott Griffin (He/Him) Michael Muhlena (He/Him) Nick Wilkins (He/Him) Ethan Traugh (He/Him)
m denney is a sound artist, electronic musician, guitarist, writer, and occasionally lies about being a composer. Her practice focuses on the use of ritualized repetitive action, engaging technology and destructive, uncontrollable recording processes as ways of exploring memory, self, and the construction of our pasts and histories. Called “haunting,” “violently joyful,” and “fever dream […]
“No one escapes the marks left behind when it comes to love or the absence of it,” says singer-songwriter S.G. Goodman, describing the inspiration behind her sophomore album Teeth Marks. “Not only are we the ones who bear its indentations, but we’re also the ones responsible for placing them on ourselves and others.” When the […]
Nadah el Shazly is a producer, vocalist and sound artist from Cairo, Egypt. Her debut album “Ahwar” radically reinvents the popular music of her homeland from the early 19th century and explores new sonic and harmonic frontiers. Using voice, field recordings and instruments, she creates haunting sound pieces and songforms that hijack the perception of […]
Shawn Jarrett also known as Sqvce (Space) is a Des Moines-based hip hop artist who has made a name for himself in the music industry. He is known for his exceptional ability to adapt to any flow or beat, making him a versatile artist. With years of experience in the game, Space has honed his […]
Headlining Saturday is San Francisco psych rock band, Osees (formerly known as OCS, The Oh Sees, and Thee Oh Sees). They have released 28 studio albums alongside countless EPs, singles, and even a split with Iowa City songwriter, Paul Carey. The band’s leader, John Dwyer, is regarded as an institution of 21st century garage rock. […]
Pelada, the duo of singer Chris Vargas and producer Tobias Rochman, broke out of Montreal’s underground warehouse rave scene in 2014 after uploading tracks to Soundcloud which caught the attention of the global dance music scene. They spent the next five years touring the globe extensively before signing with Berlin experimental label PAN in 2019 […]
The annual MCF Lit Walk returns in 2024 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. Revival: Event Host: Christine Byrne Readers: Devanshi Khetarpal / Dabin Jeong / Vivien […]
The annual MCF Lit Walk returns in 2024 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 and local out-of-town writers. Revival: Event Host: Mofiyinfoluwa O. Readers: Sunny Ahmed / James Zhenghui Zhu / […]
Single File is two best friends using music to explore social, spiritual and emotional territories, conjuring both dancing and trance-like states, with vocals likened to Bjork and Imogen Heap.
Strangers Of Necessity are an American hip-hop duo, based in the Midwest, consisting of prolific producer, CoryaYo and veteran lyricist, Fooch the MC. They linked via twitter and quickly became friends, sparking an immediate chemistry and need to make quality music together; hence the name Strangers Of Necessity. They instantly began recording music and doing […]
This special conversation on 2023’s Critical Hits Anthology: Writers Playing Video Games features Carmen Maria Machado, J. Robert Lennon, and Larissa Pham. Carmen Maria Machado is the author of the bestselling memoir In the Dream House, the graphic novel The Low, Low Woods, and the award-winning short story collection Her Body and Other Parties. […]
George Clanton doesn’t just produce gleaming electronic pop, he produces nostalgia too. The Los Angeles artist’s process involves tweaking synthesizer presets, but beyond searching for the right melodies and textures, he’s hoping to come upon a sound that strikes a spiritual chord. “I’m looking for something that triggers a memory or an emotion,” he says. […]
Hatis Noit is a Japanese vocal performer hailing from distant Shiretoko in Hokkaido who now resides in London. Her accomplished range is astonishingly self-taught, inspired by everything she could find from Gagaku — Japanese classical music — and operatic styles, Bulgarian and Gregorian chanting, to avant-garde and pop vocalists. It was at the age of […]
Walk yourself down the hill and into the Green House to celebrate the conclusion of the Lit Walk. Grab a kombucha or a cocktail and chat about which reading most piqued your curiosity.
Anthony Worden is an Iowa City based singer-songwriter who has made four full length albums since 2017 both solo and with his band, The Illiterati. Little Village says: “Anthony Worden is, in a word, ambitious. He wants to use every color on the palette in his songs — and even in the moments when it’s […]
“I was finally able to trust myself fully,” says Indigo De Souza of making her masterful third album All of This Will End. When the North Carolina-based artist released her compelling and explosive second LP Any Shape You Take in 2021, it led to a successful year of sold out tours and rave reviews from […]
“I feel like there are two sides of me,” says the Nashville-based singer-songwriter and guitar virtuoso known as Sunny War. “One of them is very self-destructive, and the other is trying to work with that other half to keep things balanced.” That’s the central conflict on her fourth album, the eclectic and innovative Anarchist Gospel, […]
ARMAND HAMMER, the New York based hip-hop duo consisting of ELUCID and billy woods, return with We Buy Diabetic Test Strips, their first album in two years and first for Fat Possum. In the 2 years since the Alchemist produced Haram, ELUCID and billy woods have both released critically acclaimed solo albums. Back with their […]
Hanif Abdurraqib is a poet, essayist, and cultural critic from Columbus, Ohio. His poetry has been published in Muzzle, Vinyl, PEN American, and various other journals. His essays and music criticism have been published in The FADER, Pitchfork, The New Yorker, and The New York Times. His first full length poetry collection, The Crown Ain’t […]
Tisa Bryant is the author of hybrid essay collection Unexplained Presence. She is co-editor of the cross-referenced literary journal, The Encyclopedia Project, and collaborates with Ernest Hardy on The Black Book series of visual mixtape love letters to black people and black culture, at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles. Her writing has appeared in […]
L’Rain’s artistic evolution eschews overarching narratives. Multi-layered in subject and form, L’Rain’s sonic explorations interrogate instead how multiplicities of emotion and experience intersect with identity. The experimental and the hyper-commercial; the expectation and the reality; the hope and the despair. L’Rain is searching for balance in the obliteration of binary logic. L’Rain is the musical […]
Neko Case steps out, cutting the sky and singing the stars, spinning fury and mercy as she goes. She loves the world and wears her heart on her sleeve, but she might eat it before you get to thinking it belongs to you. Wild Creatures pulls together some high points of feral joy from twenty-one […]
Meekling Press is a small “boundary-defying” publisher, printer, and arts collective based in Chicago, Illinois. Black Lawrence Press is an independent publisher of contemporary poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. Join Meekling Press Publisher Rebecca Elliot and Black Lawrence Press Anthologies Editor and Immigrant Writing Series Editor Abayomi Animashaun as they discuss the merits, challenges, and opportunities presented […]
The annual Mission Creek Festival Small Press & Literary bookfair returns! Stop by The Chauncey for books, conversation, and community. Grab a Mission Creek fest tote bag to carry your haul of books and discover these featured presses: 503 Press Black Lawrence Press Book*hug Press Brink Canarium Books Dorothy, a publishing project draft: the journal […]
Click to Register » In each monthly issue of The Sun, Readers Write asks readers to address subjects on which they’re the only authorities: “Drug Experiences,” “Tools,” “Learning the Hard Way,” “Cooking,” “Being Stubborn,” to name just a few. Topics are intentionally broad in order to give room for expression. In this hour-long workshop, participants […]
Founded in 2016, Fonograf Editions is a nonprofit literary record label and book press from Portland, Oregon. Sarabande Books is an independent publisher dedicated to poetry, short fiction, and essay, located in Louisville, KY. Join Fonograf Editions Editor Jeff Alessandrelli and Sarabande Books author Lauren Haldeman for an insider’s look at the role texture […]
Pictoria Vark is the project of Iowa City-based songwriter and bassist Victoria Park. Growing up in northern New Jersey and cutting her teeth on the NYC music scene, Park’s debut full-length record, “The Parts I Dread” documents a sudden paradigm shift she faced when her parents relocated to Wyoming when she was 19. Much of […]
mars hojilla is the freshly sprung solo project of Iowa City-based singer/songwriter Myles Evangelista (he/they). Born to two kickass Filipino immigrants in Peoria, Illinois, Myles’s first musical love was the household’s MAGIC SING Karaoke Machine, which fostered in him a love of classic pop and rock by scoring him highly on Queen, ABBA, and Elton […]
Lit Hub’s Thresholds Podcast w/ Jordan Kisner, Ganavya, and Kaveh Akbar. Thresholds is a series of interviews with writers and artists you love about the transformative experiences (surprises, crises, existential freakouts, u-turns, breakthroughs) that have shaped their work. Jordan Kisner Jordan Kisner is the author of the essay collection Thin Places, named one of the […]
Since forming in Iowa City in 2007, The Uniphonics performed in more than 15 states, played at notable festivals, and opened for platinum selling artists. They’ve released 3 albums: Truth Be Told (2009), Crawl (2010), and The Uniphonics (2020). “Crawl” and “The Uniphonics” feature collaborations with internationally known artists, including Grammy Award winning jazz legend […]
Karen Meat is a pop rock band experience based in Iowa, Midwest USA. In colorful outfits and antics, Karen Meat is fronted by Arin Eaton and backed by Dana Telsrow. Their melting synth and guitar rippin’ tunes bounce to the beat of Eaton’s melodic yet straight-to-the- point vocals, confessing weird life in a choir of […]
The Heavy Heavy create the kind of unfettered rock-and-roll that warps time and place, immediately pulling the audience into a euphoric fugue state with its own sun-soaked atmosphere. Led by lifelong musicians Will Turner and Georgie Fuller, the Brighton, UK-based band began with a shared ambition of “making records that sound like our favorite records […]
Fans know Friko (Bailey Minzenberger, Luke Stamos, and frontman Niko Kapetan) as vital rising stars in the Chicago scene. The music, which freelancer Britt Julious described as “perfect slices of indie-pop” in the Chicago Tribune last January, is complex, layered, and dynamic. Over the band’s time together, it has become clear they are comfortable embracing […]
Brian Penkrot, Jason Palamara, and Justin K Comer met in the early 2010s while pursuing graduate degrees in composition at the University of Iowa. Jason and Justin began playing together to accompany dancers, and eventually founded the duo JCϟjp. The duo lost some steam when Jason moved to Indiana, but in 2019, Brian breathed new […]
This after party at The James is in celebration of The Sun Magazine’s 50th anniversary. Join us for these featured keynote speakers, poets, and authors: Camonghne Felix Camonghne Felix is a poet, essayist, political strategist, and cultural worker. She is the author of Build Yourself a Boat, which was long-listed for the 2019 National Book […]
Straight out of Des Moines, IA, aka the ninth best place to live in the entire world, Greg Wheeler and the Poly Mall Cops deliver manic garage punk slime at its finest — whatever that means. Greg Wheeler (The Wheelers, The Slats, Night Stories) joins Jill McLain-Meister and friendly neighborhood barber Hutch (The Vandon Arms) […]
On the honey shores of Cape Cod in a beach shack, Courtney Marie Andrews found self-love and her voice. Every morning, she’d walk 6-8 miles around the back trails of an island and meditate on her life, perusing old memories and patterns like browsing a used bookshop. That summer of introspection led her to a […]
A rattling subwoofer is a sonic aberration, a byproduct of high volume that often results in a speaker system’s long-term damage. It takes the listening experience from exclusively aural to physical, evoking a range of reactions from listeners. This experience is bonded inextricably with rap music for both its fans and dissenters, a familiar beacon […]
Richmond, Virginia-based artist McKinley Dixon has always used his music as a tool for healing, exploring, and unpacking the Black experience in order to create stories for others like him. On his previous two self-released albums, Dixon’s songs looked at concepts ranging from self-love to police brutality, and the complex trauma Black people navigate collectively […]
Kevin Morby is a Kansas City based singer/songwriter. With his seven acclaimed solo albums and myriad records of various collaboration, Morby has become a true musical auteur. His singular vision, evocative lyrics, and aptitude for catchy, dense songwriting has placed him firmly among the ranks of modern icons. Each Morby record possesses its own unique […]
Natural Information Society (NIS) is a band led by composer & multi-instrumentalist Joshua Abrams. The group’s music is grounded in Abrams’ hypnotic & interwoven writing. Performing with Lisa Alvarado’s free hanging paintings as mobile sets, NIS create environments at once meditative & propulsive. NIS navigates forms that emphasize simultaneous differences, rhythm & collective listening. The […]
After initially forming as a tribute band for Japanese guitar legend Takeshi Terauchi, TEKE::TEKE learned that they had to tear up their surf-tinged covers and build something new. Since then, the Montreal-based seven-piece have expanded their already wide scope into a dazzling journey through classic Japanese balladry and Brazillian psychedelia alike. Fusing everything from traditional […]
The annual Lit Walk returns to MCF this year with three 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 1: R.S.V.P: Martin Riker, Skylar Alexandar, Brandon Courtney, Bethany Shultz Hurst, Susan […]
Extravision is the intentionally malleable music of Des Moines humans Ryan Stier (The River Monks, Annalibera), Ben Dixon, Amanda Gibbons, and a rotation cast of helpers. Extravision is in a word, psychedelic, and seeks to explore that concept in multitudes. Sometimes spacious and expansive, sometimes glitchy and watery, sometimes a whisper, Extravision is as unpredictable […]
Des Moines, Iowa-based rapper De’Angelo McGregor, aka FlyLife is known for his ability to mix catchy hooks with high level lyricism and fresh deliveries. FlyLife is not your ordinary rapper. He has learned to choose his cadences tactically over any type of instrumentation. McGregor started Us Vs Them in early 2017. A group that took […]
Sudan Archives contains multitudes. She first emerged as an avant-garde violinist who channeled her playing through loop pedals. But she’s also much more than that: lovelorn songwriter, powerful vocal performer, and experimental beatmaker. She’s captivated audiences at festivals around the world with her hybrid sound, playing at Coachella, Pitchfork Midwinter, and FORM: Arcosanti, and sharing […]
Mr. Softheart is an American 3-piece from Des Moines and Cedar Falls, IA. Formed in 2021 by brothers John and Nick Fisher, alongside their long-time creative partner Charlie Patterson, Mr. Softheart’s sound fits most closely within a post-punk ethos — albeit one that favors minimalism and intimacy over more conventional iterations of the genre. Their […]
There’s no perfect way to describe Water From Your Eyes; to relate the New York duo in absolutes would be imprecise and frivolous. Since 2016, the group’s clear-eyed approach to dance music has combined austerity and satire, abrasion and charm, with the pair plotting sonic trajectories on All a Dance and forgoing traditional album structure […]
Yasmin Williams sits on her leather couch, her guitar stretched across her lap horizontally with its strings turned to the sky. She taps on the fretboard with her left hand as her right hand plucks a kalimba placed on the guitar’s body. Her feet, clad in tap shoes, keep rhythm on a mic’d wooden board […]
On her 2018 debut album Lush, seventeen-year-old Lindsey Jordan sang “I’m in full control / I’m not lost / Even when it’s love / Even when it’s not”. Her natural ability to be many things at once resonated with a lot of people. The contradiction of confidence and vulnerability, power and delicacy, had the impact […]
Divino Niño are no strangers to bold reinvention. When Camilo Medina and Javier Forero—friends whose bond dates back to their childhoods in Bogotá, Colombia—moved to Chicago and recruited guitarist Guillermo Rodriguez to form a band, they were psych-pop outsiders playing live shows with a drum machine. With the addition of drummer Pierce Codina, their 2019 […]
Michelle Zauner is best known as a singer and guitarist who creates dreamy, shoegaze-inspired indie pop under the name Japanese Breakfast. She has won acclaim from major music outlets around the world for releases like Psychopomp (2016) and Soft Sounds from Another Planet (2017). Her most recent album, Jubilee (2021), earned two GRAMMY nominations for Best New Artist and Best Alternative […]
This land runs through Katherine Paul’s blood. And it called to her. In dreams she saw the river, her ancestors, and her home. When the land calls, you listen. And KP found herself far from her ancestral lands during a time of collective trauma, when the world was wounded and in need of healing. In […]
Chan Marshall’s latest Covers album as Cat Power arrives, as all of her music does, at just the perfect time. Covers is a deeply felt, intimate, and altogether holistic collection of songs intended as a healing salve for the artist and listener alike, showcasing Marshall’s singular chronicling of the ever-evolving great American songbook. Self-produced and […]
Pictoria Vark is the project of Iowa City-based songwriter and bassist Victoria Park. Growing up in northern New Jersey and cutting her teeth on the NYC music scene, Park’s debut full-length record, “The Parts I Dread” documents a sudden paradigm shift she faced when her parents relocated to Wyoming when she was 19. Much of […]
mars hojilla is the freshly sprung solo project of Iowa City-based singer/songwriter Myles Evangelista (he/they). Born to two kickass Filipino immigrants in Peoria, Illinois, Myles’s first musical love was the household’s MAGIC SING Karaoke Machine, which fostered in him a love of classic pop and rock by scoring him highly on Queen, ABBA, and Elton […]
Since forming in Iowa City in 2007, The Uniphonics performed in more than 15 states, played at notable festivals, and opened for platinum selling artists. They’ve released 3 albums: Truth Be Told (2009), Crawl (2010), and The Uniphonics (2020). “Crawl” and “The Uniphonics” feature collaborations with internationally known artists, including Grammy Award winning jazz legend […]
Karen Meat is a pop rock band experience based in Iowa, Midwest USA. In colorful outfits and antics, Karen Meat is fronted by Arin Eaton and backed by Dana Telsrow. Their melting synth and guitar rippin’ tunes bounce to the beat of Eaton’s melodic yet straight-to-the- point vocals, confessing weird life in a choir of […]
The Heavy Heavy create the kind of unfettered rock-and-roll that warps time and place, immediately pulling the audience into a euphoric fugue state with its own sun-soaked atmosphere. Led by lifelong musicians Will Turner and Georgie Fuller, the Brighton, UK-based band began with a shared ambition of “making records that sound like our favorite records […]
Fans know Friko (Bailey Minzenberger, Luke Stamos, and frontman Niko Kapetan) as vital rising stars in the Chicago scene. The music, which freelancer Britt Julious described as “perfect slices of indie-pop” in the Chicago Tribune last January, is complex, layered, and dynamic. Over the band’s time together, it has become clear they are comfortable embracing […]
Brian Penkrot, Jason Palamara, and Justin K Comer met in the early 2010s while pursuing graduate degrees in composition at the University of Iowa. Jason and Justin began playing together to accompany dancers, and eventually founded the duo JCϟjp. The duo lost some steam when Jason moved to Indiana, but in 2019, Brian breathed new […]
Straight out of Des Moines, IA, aka the ninth best place to live in the entire world, Greg Wheeler and the Poly Mall Cops deliver manic garage punk slime at its finest — whatever that means. Greg Wheeler (The Wheelers, The Slats, Night Stories) joins Jill McLain-Meister and friendly neighborhood barber Hutch (The Vandon Arms) […]
On the honey shores of Cape Cod in a beach shack, Courtney Marie Andrews found self-love and her voice. Every morning, she’d walk 6-8 miles around the back trails of an island and meditate on her life, perusing old memories and patterns like browsing a used bookshop. That summer of introspection led her to a […]
A rattling subwoofer is a sonic aberration, a byproduct of high volume that often results in a speaker system’s long-term damage. It takes the listening experience from exclusively aural to physical, evoking a range of reactions from listeners. This experience is bonded inextricably with rap music for both its fans and dissenters, a familiar beacon […]
Richmond, Virginia-based artist McKinley Dixon has always used his music as a tool for healing, exploring, and unpacking the Black experience in order to create stories for others like him. On his previous two self-released albums, Dixon’s songs looked at concepts ranging from self-love to police brutality, and the complex trauma Black people navigate collectively […]
Kevin Morby is a Kansas City based singer/songwriter. With his seven acclaimed solo albums and myriad records of various collaboration, Morby has become a true musical auteur. His singular vision, evocative lyrics, and aptitude for catchy, dense songwriting has placed him firmly among the ranks of modern icons. Each Morby record possesses its own unique […]
Natural Information Society (NIS) is a band led by composer & multi-instrumentalist Joshua Abrams. The group’s music is grounded in Abrams’ hypnotic & interwoven writing. Performing with Lisa Alvarado’s free hanging paintings as mobile sets, NIS create environments at once meditative & propulsive. NIS navigates forms that emphasize simultaneous differences, rhythm & collective listening. The […]
After initially forming as a tribute band for Japanese guitar legend Takeshi Terauchi, TEKE::TEKE learned that they had to tear up their surf-tinged covers and build something new. Since then, the Montreal-based seven-piece have expanded their already wide scope into a dazzling journey through classic Japanese balladry and Brazillian psychedelia alike. Fusing everything from traditional […]
Extravision is the intentionally malleable music of Des Moines humans Ryan Stier (The River Monks, Annalibera), Ben Dixon, Amanda Gibbons, and a rotation cast of helpers. Extravision is in a word, psychedelic, and seeks to explore that concept in multitudes. Sometimes spacious and expansive, sometimes glitchy and watery, sometimes a whisper, Extravision is as unpredictable […]
Des Moines, Iowa-based rapper De’Angelo McGregor, aka FlyLife is known for his ability to mix catchy hooks with high level lyricism and fresh deliveries. FlyLife is not your ordinary rapper. He has learned to choose his cadences tactically over any type of instrumentation. McGregor started Us Vs Them in early 2017. A group that took […]
Sudan Archives contains multitudes. She first emerged as an avant-garde violinist who channeled her playing through loop pedals. But she’s also much more than that: lovelorn songwriter, powerful vocal performer, and experimental beatmaker. She’s captivated audiences at festivals around the world with her hybrid sound, playing at Coachella, Pitchfork Midwinter, and FORM: Arcosanti, and sharing […]
Mr. Softheart is an American 3-piece from Des Moines and Cedar Falls, IA. Formed in 2021 by brothers John and Nick Fisher, alongside their long-time creative partner Charlie Patterson, Mr. Softheart’s sound fits most closely within a post-punk ethos — albeit one that favors minimalism and intimacy over more conventional iterations of the genre. Their […]
There’s no perfect way to describe Water From Your Eyes; to relate the New York duo in absolutes would be imprecise and frivolous. Since 2016, the group’s clear-eyed approach to dance music has combined austerity and satire, abrasion and charm, with the pair plotting sonic trajectories on All a Dance and forgoing traditional album structure […]
Yasmin Williams sits on her leather couch, her guitar stretched across her lap horizontally with its strings turned to the sky. She taps on the fretboard with her left hand as her right hand plucks a kalimba placed on the guitar’s body. Her feet, clad in tap shoes, keep rhythm on a mic’d wooden board […]
On her 2018 debut album Lush, seventeen-year-old Lindsey Jordan sang “I’m in full control / I’m not lost / Even when it’s love / Even when it’s not”. Her natural ability to be many things at once resonated with a lot of people. The contradiction of confidence and vulnerability, power and delicacy, had the impact […]
Divino Niño are no strangers to bold reinvention. When Camilo Medina and Javier Forero—friends whose bond dates back to their childhoods in Bogotá, Colombia—moved to Chicago and recruited guitarist Guillermo Rodriguez to form a band, they were psych-pop outsiders playing live shows with a drum machine. With the addition of drummer Pierce Codina, their 2019 […]
This land runs through Katherine Paul’s blood. And it called to her. In dreams she saw the river, her ancestors, and her home. When the land calls, you listen. And KP found herself far from her ancestral lands during a time of collective trauma, when the world was wounded and in need of healing. In […]
Chan Marshall’s latest Covers album as Cat Power arrives, as all of her music does, at just the perfect time. Covers is a deeply felt, intimate, and altogether holistic collection of songs intended as a healing salve for the artist and listener alike, showcasing Marshall’s singular chronicling of the ever-evolving great American songbook. Self-produced and […]
The annual Mission Creek Festival Small Press & Literary bookfair returns! Stop by The Chauncey for books, conversation, and community. Grab a Mission Creek fest tote bag to carry your haul of books and discover these featured presses: 503 Press Black Lawrence Press Book*hug Press Brink Canarium Books Dorothy, a publishing project draft: the journal […]
Meekling Press is a small “boundary-defying” publisher, printer, and arts collective based in Chicago, Illinois. Black Lawrence Press is an independent publisher of contemporary poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. Join Meekling Press Publisher Rebecca Elliot and Black Lawrence Press Anthologies Editor and Immigrant Writing Series Editor Abayomi Animashaun as they discuss the merits, challenges, and opportunities presented […]
Click to Register » In each monthly issue of The Sun, Readers Write asks readers to address subjects on which they’re the only authorities: “Drug Experiences,” “Tools,” “Learning the Hard Way,” “Cooking,” “Being Stubborn,” to name just a few. Topics are intentionally broad in order to give room for expression. In this hour-long workshop, participants […]
Founded in 2016, Fonograf Editions is a nonprofit literary record label and book press from Portland, Oregon. Sarabande Books is an independent publisher dedicated to poetry, short fiction, and essay, located in Louisville, KY. Join Fonograf Editions Editor Jeff Alessandrelli and Sarabande Books author Lauren Haldeman for an insider’s look at the role texture […]
Lit Hub’s Thresholds Podcast w/ Jordan Kisner, Ganavya, and Kaveh Akbar. Thresholds is a series of interviews with writers and artists you love about the transformative experiences (surprises, crises, existential freakouts, u-turns, breakthroughs) that have shaped their work. Jordan Kisner Jordan Kisner is the author of the essay collection Thin Places, named one of the […]
This after party at The James is in celebration of The Sun Magazine’s 50th anniversary. Join us for these featured keynote speakers, poets, and authors: Camonghne Felix Camonghne Felix is a poet, essayist, political strategist, and cultural worker. She is the author of Build Yourself a Boat, which was long-listed for the 2019 National Book […]
The annual Lit Walk returns to MCF this year with three 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 1: R.S.V.P: Martin Riker, Skylar Alexandar, Brandon Courtney, Bethany Shultz Hurst, Susan […]
Michelle Zauner is best known as a singer and guitarist who creates dreamy, shoegaze-inspired indie pop under the name Japanese Breakfast. She has won acclaim from major music outlets around the world for releases like Psychopomp (2016) and Soft Sounds from Another Planet (2017). Her most recent album, Jubilee (2021), earned two GRAMMY nominations for Best New Artist and Best Alternative […]
The annual Mission Creek Festival Small Press & Literary bookfair returns! Stop by The Chauncey for books, conversation, and community. Grab a Mission Creek fest tote bag to carry your haul of books and discover these featured presses: 503 Press Black Lawrence Press Book*hug Press Brink Canarium Books Dorothy, a publishing project draft: the journal […]
Meekling Press is a small “boundary-defying” publisher, printer, and arts collective based in Chicago, Illinois. Black Lawrence Press is an independent publisher of contemporary poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. Join Meekling Press Publisher Rebecca Elliot and Black Lawrence Press Anthologies Editor and Immigrant Writing Series Editor Abayomi Animashaun as they discuss the merits, challenges, and opportunities presented […]
Click to Register » In each monthly issue of The Sun, Readers Write asks readers to address subjects on which they’re the only authorities: “Drug Experiences,” “Tools,” “Learning the Hard Way,” “Cooking,” “Being Stubborn,” to name just a few. Topics are intentionally broad in order to give room for expression. In this hour-long workshop, participants […]
Founded in 2016, Fonograf Editions is a nonprofit literary record label and book press from Portland, Oregon. Sarabande Books is an independent publisher dedicated to poetry, short fiction, and essay, located in Louisville, KY. Join Fonograf Editions Editor Jeff Alessandrelli and Sarabande Books author Lauren Haldeman for an insider’s look at the role texture […]
Pictoria Vark is the project of Iowa City-based songwriter and bassist Victoria Park. Growing up in northern New Jersey and cutting her teeth on the NYC music scene, Park’s debut full-length record, “The Parts I Dread” documents a sudden paradigm shift she faced when her parents relocated to Wyoming when she was 19. Much of […]
mars hojilla is the freshly sprung solo project of Iowa City-based singer/songwriter Myles Evangelista (he/they). Born to two kickass Filipino immigrants in Peoria, Illinois, Myles’s first musical love was the household’s MAGIC SING Karaoke Machine, which fostered in him a love of classic pop and rock by scoring him highly on Queen, ABBA, and Elton […]
Lit Hub’s Thresholds Podcast w/ Jordan Kisner, Ganavya, and Kaveh Akbar. Thresholds is a series of interviews with writers and artists you love about the transformative experiences (surprises, crises, existential freakouts, u-turns, breakthroughs) that have shaped their work. Jordan Kisner Jordan Kisner is the author of the essay collection Thin Places, named one of the […]
Since forming in Iowa City in 2007, The Uniphonics performed in more than 15 states, played at notable festivals, and opened for platinum selling artists. They’ve released 3 albums: Truth Be Told (2009), Crawl (2010), and The Uniphonics (2020). “Crawl” and “The Uniphonics” feature collaborations with internationally known artists, including Grammy Award winning jazz legend […]
Karen Meat is a pop rock band experience based in Iowa, Midwest USA. In colorful outfits and antics, Karen Meat is fronted by Arin Eaton and backed by Dana Telsrow. Their melting synth and guitar rippin’ tunes bounce to the beat of Eaton’s melodic yet straight-to-the- point vocals, confessing weird life in a choir of […]
The Heavy Heavy create the kind of unfettered rock-and-roll that warps time and place, immediately pulling the audience into a euphoric fugue state with its own sun-soaked atmosphere. Led by lifelong musicians Will Turner and Georgie Fuller, the Brighton, UK-based band began with a shared ambition of “making records that sound like our favorite records […]
Fans know Friko (Bailey Minzenberger, Luke Stamos, and frontman Niko Kapetan) as vital rising stars in the Chicago scene. The music, which freelancer Britt Julious described as “perfect slices of indie-pop” in the Chicago Tribune last January, is complex, layered, and dynamic. Over the band’s time together, it has become clear they are comfortable embracing […]
This after party at The James is in celebration of The Sun Magazine’s 50th anniversary. Join us for these featured keynote speakers, poets, and authors: Camonghne Felix Camonghne Felix is a poet, essayist, political strategist, and cultural worker. She is the author of Build Yourself a Boat, which was long-listed for the 2019 National Book […]
The annual Lit Walk returns to MCF this year with three 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 1: R.S.V.P: Martin Riker, Skylar Alexandar, Brandon Courtney, Bethany Shultz Hurst, Susan […]
Meekling Press is a small “boundary-defying” publisher, printer, and arts collective based in Chicago, Illinois. Black Lawrence Press is an independent publisher of contemporary poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. Join Meekling Press Publisher Rebecca Elliot and Black Lawrence Press Anthologies Editor and Immigrant Writing Series Editor Abayomi Animashaun as they discuss the merits, challenges, and opportunities presented […]
The annual Mission Creek Festival Small Press & Literary bookfair returns! Stop by The Chauncey for books, conversation, and community. Grab a Mission Creek fest tote bag to carry your haul of books and discover these featured presses: 503 Press Black Lawrence Press Book*hug Press Brink Canarium Books Dorothy, a publishing project draft: the journal […]
Click to Register » In each monthly issue of The Sun, Readers Write asks readers to address subjects on which they’re the only authorities: “Drug Experiences,” “Tools,” “Learning the Hard Way,” “Cooking,” “Being Stubborn,” to name just a few. Topics are intentionally broad in order to give room for expression. In this hour-long workshop, participants […]
Founded in 2016, Fonograf Editions is a nonprofit literary record label and book press from Portland, Oregon. Sarabande Books is an independent publisher dedicated to poetry, short fiction, and essay, located in Louisville, KY. Join Fonograf Editions Editor Jeff Alessandrelli and Sarabande Books author Lauren Haldeman for an insider’s look at the role texture […]
Pictoria Vark is the project of Iowa City-based songwriter and bassist Victoria Park. Growing up in northern New Jersey and cutting her teeth on the NYC music scene, Park’s debut full-length record, “The Parts I Dread” documents a sudden paradigm shift she faced when her parents relocated to Wyoming when she was 19. Much of […]
mars hojilla is the freshly sprung solo project of Iowa City-based singer/songwriter Myles Evangelista (he/they). Born to two kickass Filipino immigrants in Peoria, Illinois, Myles’s first musical love was the household’s MAGIC SING Karaoke Machine, which fostered in him a love of classic pop and rock by scoring him highly on Queen, ABBA, and Elton […]
Lit Hub’s Thresholds Podcast w/ Jordan Kisner, Ganavya, and Kaveh Akbar. Thresholds is a series of interviews with writers and artists you love about the transformative experiences (surprises, crises, existential freakouts, u-turns, breakthroughs) that have shaped their work. Jordan Kisner Jordan Kisner is the author of the essay collection Thin Places, named one of the […]
Since forming in Iowa City in 2007, The Uniphonics performed in more than 15 states, played at notable festivals, and opened for platinum selling artists. They’ve released 3 albums: Truth Be Told (2009), Crawl (2010), and The Uniphonics (2020). “Crawl” and “The Uniphonics” feature collaborations with internationally known artists, including Grammy Award winning jazz legend […]
Karen Meat is a pop rock band experience based in Iowa, Midwest USA. In colorful outfits and antics, Karen Meat is fronted by Arin Eaton and backed by Dana Telsrow. Their melting synth and guitar rippin’ tunes bounce to the beat of Eaton’s melodic yet straight-to-the- point vocals, confessing weird life in a choir of […]
The Heavy Heavy create the kind of unfettered rock-and-roll that warps time and place, immediately pulling the audience into a euphoric fugue state with its own sun-soaked atmosphere. Led by lifelong musicians Will Turner and Georgie Fuller, the Brighton, UK-based band began with a shared ambition of “making records that sound like our favorite records […]
Fans know Friko (Bailey Minzenberger, Luke Stamos, and frontman Niko Kapetan) as vital rising stars in the Chicago scene. The music, which freelancer Britt Julious described as “perfect slices of indie-pop” in the Chicago Tribune last January, is complex, layered, and dynamic. Over the band’s time together, it has become clear they are comfortable embracing […]
Brian Penkrot, Jason Palamara, and Justin K Comer met in the early 2010s while pursuing graduate degrees in composition at the University of Iowa. Jason and Justin began playing together to accompany dancers, and eventually founded the duo JCϟjp. The duo lost some steam when Jason moved to Indiana, but in 2019, Brian breathed new […]
This after party at The James is in celebration of The Sun Magazine’s 50th anniversary. Join us for these featured keynote speakers, poets, and authors: Camonghne Felix Camonghne Felix is a poet, essayist, political strategist, and cultural worker. She is the author of Build Yourself a Boat, which was long-listed for the 2019 National Book […]
Straight out of Des Moines, IA, aka the ninth best place to live in the entire world, Greg Wheeler and the Poly Mall Cops deliver manic garage punk slime at its finest — whatever that means. Greg Wheeler (The Wheelers, The Slats, Night Stories) joins Jill McLain-Meister and friendly neighborhood barber Hutch (The Vandon Arms) […]
On the honey shores of Cape Cod in a beach shack, Courtney Marie Andrews found self-love and her voice. Every morning, she’d walk 6-8 miles around the back trails of an island and meditate on her life, perusing old memories and patterns like browsing a used bookshop. That summer of introspection led her to a […]
A rattling subwoofer is a sonic aberration, a byproduct of high volume that often results in a speaker system’s long-term damage. It takes the listening experience from exclusively aural to physical, evoking a range of reactions from listeners. This experience is bonded inextricably with rap music for both its fans and dissenters, a familiar beacon […]
Richmond, Virginia-based artist McKinley Dixon has always used his music as a tool for healing, exploring, and unpacking the Black experience in order to create stories for others like him. On his previous two self-released albums, Dixon’s songs looked at concepts ranging from self-love to police brutality, and the complex trauma Black people navigate collectively […]
Kevin Morby is a Kansas City based singer/songwriter. With his seven acclaimed solo albums and myriad records of various collaboration, Morby has become a true musical auteur. His singular vision, evocative lyrics, and aptitude for catchy, dense songwriting has placed him firmly among the ranks of modern icons. Each Morby record possesses its own unique […]
Natural Information Society (NIS) is a band led by composer & multi-instrumentalist Joshua Abrams. The group’s music is grounded in Abrams’ hypnotic & interwoven writing. Performing with Lisa Alvarado’s free hanging paintings as mobile sets, NIS create environments at once meditative & propulsive. NIS navigates forms that emphasize simultaneous differences, rhythm & collective listening. The […]
After initially forming as a tribute band for Japanese guitar legend Takeshi Terauchi, TEKE::TEKE learned that they had to tear up their surf-tinged covers and build something new. Since then, the Montreal-based seven-piece have expanded their already wide scope into a dazzling journey through classic Japanese balladry and Brazillian psychedelia alike. Fusing everything from traditional […]
The annual Lit Walk returns to MCF this year with three 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 1: R.S.V.P: Martin Riker, Skylar Alexandar, Brandon Courtney, Bethany Shultz Hurst, Susan […]
Extravision is the intentionally malleable music of Des Moines humans Ryan Stier (The River Monks, Annalibera), Ben Dixon, Amanda Gibbons, and a rotation cast of helpers. Extravision is in a word, psychedelic, and seeks to explore that concept in multitudes. Sometimes spacious and expansive, sometimes glitchy and watery, sometimes a whisper, Extravision is as unpredictable […]
Des Moines, Iowa-based rapper De’Angelo McGregor, aka FlyLife is known for his ability to mix catchy hooks with high level lyricism and fresh deliveries. FlyLife is not your ordinary rapper. He has learned to choose his cadences tactically over any type of instrumentation. McGregor started Us Vs Them in early 2017. A group that took […]
Sudan Archives contains multitudes. She first emerged as an avant-garde violinist who channeled her playing through loop pedals. But she’s also much more than that: lovelorn songwriter, powerful vocal performer, and experimental beatmaker. She’s captivated audiences at festivals around the world with her hybrid sound, playing at Coachella, Pitchfork Midwinter, and FORM: Arcosanti, and sharing […]
Mr. Softheart is an American 3-piece from Des Moines and Cedar Falls, IA. Formed in 2021 by brothers John and Nick Fisher, alongside their long-time creative partner Charlie Patterson, Mr. Softheart’s sound fits most closely within a post-punk ethos — albeit one that favors minimalism and intimacy over more conventional iterations of the genre. Their […]
There’s no perfect way to describe Water From Your Eyes; to relate the New York duo in absolutes would be imprecise and frivolous. Since 2016, the group’s clear-eyed approach to dance music has combined austerity and satire, abrasion and charm, with the pair plotting sonic trajectories on All a Dance and forgoing traditional album structure […]
Yasmin Williams sits on her leather couch, her guitar stretched across her lap horizontally with its strings turned to the sky. She taps on the fretboard with her left hand as her right hand plucks a kalimba placed on the guitar’s body. Her feet, clad in tap shoes, keep rhythm on a mic’d wooden board […]
On her 2018 debut album Lush, seventeen-year-old Lindsey Jordan sang “I’m in full control / I’m not lost / Even when it’s love / Even when it’s not”. Her natural ability to be many things at once resonated with a lot of people. The contradiction of confidence and vulnerability, power and delicacy, had the impact […]
Divino Niño are no strangers to bold reinvention. When Camilo Medina and Javier Forero—friends whose bond dates back to their childhoods in Bogotá, Colombia—moved to Chicago and recruited guitarist Guillermo Rodriguez to form a band, they were psych-pop outsiders playing live shows with a drum machine. With the addition of drummer Pierce Codina, their 2019 […]
Michelle Zauner is best known as a singer and guitarist who creates dreamy, shoegaze-inspired indie pop under the name Japanese Breakfast. She has won acclaim from major music outlets around the world for releases like Psychopomp (2016) and Soft Sounds from Another Planet (2017). Her most recent album, Jubilee (2021), earned two GRAMMY nominations for Best New Artist and Best Alternative […]
This land runs through Katherine Paul’s blood. And it called to her. In dreams she saw the river, her ancestors, and her home. When the land calls, you listen. And KP found herself far from her ancestral lands during a time of collective trauma, when the world was wounded and in need of healing. In […]
Chan Marshall’s latest Covers album as Cat Power arrives, as all of her music does, at just the perfect time. Covers is a deeply felt, intimate, and altogether holistic collection of songs intended as a healing salve for the artist and listener alike, showcasing Marshall’s singular chronicling of the ever-evolving great American songbook. Self-produced and […]
Michelle Zauner is best known as a singer and guitarist who creates dreamy, shoegaze-inspired indie pop under the name Japanese Breakfast. She has won acclaim from major music outlets around the world for releases like Psychopomp (2016) and Soft Sounds from Another Planet (2017). Her most recent album, Jubilee (2021), earned two GRAMMY nominations for Best New Artist and Best Alternative […]
Meekling Press is a small “boundary-defying” publisher, printer, and arts collective based in Chicago, Illinois. Black Lawrence Press is an independent publisher of contemporary poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. Join Meekling Press Publisher Rebecca Elliot and Black Lawrence Press Anthologies Editor and Immigrant Writing Series Editor Abayomi Animashaun as they discuss the merits, challenges, and opportunities presented […]
Join us for I.C.E. C.R.E.A.M., the 5th annual Iowa City Expo for Comics and Real Eclectic Alternative Media. The event features local and regional artists and their comics, zines, artbooks, weatables, and ephemera! I.C.E. C.R.E.A.M. is collaboratively presented by Public Space One and Mission Creek Festival. Featured artists: Iowa City Press Co-Op Katie Armentrout | […]
Literary magazines and independent publishers from around the block and across the country will set up shop at FilmScene at The Chauncey. Representing some of the most exciting work in publishing today, this free, day-long event features the following presses: Chapter House, Cleveland State University Poetry Center, Europa Editions, Ice Cube Press, Jaded Ibis Press, […]
SARAH GERARD Sarah Gerard’s essay collection Sunshine State (Harper Perennial, 2017) was a New York Times Editors’ Choice, a finalist for the Southern Book Prize, and was longlisted for the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay. Her novel Binary Star (Two Dollar Radio, 2015) was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Art […]
Sarah Minor Sarah Minor is a writer and interdisciplinary artist and author of Slim Confessions: The Universe as a Spider or Spit (Noemi Press 2021), Bright Archive (Rescue Press 2020), winner of the 2020 Big Other Nonfiction Book Award, and The Persistence of the Bonyleg: Annotated, a chapbook from Essay Press. Minor is the recipient […]
Maaaze is a rock band from Eastern Iowa. Their knack for pop sensibilities, progressive arrangements, and use of effects both in the studio and onstage, has helped them craft a highly regarded sound amongst Eastern Iowa rock circles. Their live show packs a serious punch, a musical and visual journey invites the listener to get […]
Oh Boy Records, founded by John Prine, is taking their record show on the road, and their first stop? Mission Creek Festival! The event will feature a large selection of new and used vinyl, including Vinyl Cup Records exclusives and limited special editions from John Prine, Dan Reeder, Arlo McKinley, and Tré Burt. And that’s not all… Tre Burt will be […]
Five years (it’s been 5 years?) after being shipwrecked on Earth, and assimilation into its many forms of “society” has never been more taxing. While Madi and Hadiza arrived (crash landed) on Earth with a veritable set of skills related to the recycling of intergalactic waste, this has been difficult to translate into gainful employment. […]
Wave Cage combines jazz, electronic, and funk sensibilities into a live experience that defies and blends genres, challenges the ear, and invites audience members to re-engage with and reimagine jazz and improvised music. Wave Cage is Nolan Schroeder (sax/electronics), Ryan Garmoe (trumpet/electronics/keyboards), Jarrett Purdy (keyboards/synthesizers/electronics) and Chris Jensen (drums). Stylistically, the band draws heavily from […]
Register “Translating continuously feeds my own writing by, among other things, enriching my English and developing my capacities in English. The problem after problem that pose themselves, in translating, require me to become ever more ingenious in my home language.” —Lydia Davis, “Eleven Pleasures of Translating” In this workshop, writers will experiment with translators’ techniques, […]
Peel Dream Magazine is the nom de plume for Los Angeles based musician Joe Stevens, who launched the band while living in NYC with the critically acclaimed 2018 album Modern Meta Physic, a mysterious, liminal tribute to the hazy end of ‘90s dream-pop that found its place on numerous “Best of 2018” lists. Channeling a […]
Reneice Charles Reneice is a writer, recipe developer, and food photographer often found beachside in Los Angeles, CA. Reneice was the Managing Editor for SKEW Magazine issue 03 // Black Abundance, and will serve as Editor in Chief for issues 04 and 05. She is the author of the queer baking column, Femme Brûlée, formerly […]
Willy Tea Taylor is a father, brother, and son. His remarkable ability to sing about profound subjects in a simple way makes his songs a great place to lose yourself. Much of that comes from his upbringing. Willy grew up surrounded by rolling hills and horses in the small town of Oakdale, California. Known as […]
There’s an obvious chemistry emanating throughout Ohmme’s music that’s so tangible it can only come from a decades-spanning friendship. Songwriters Sima Cunnningham and Macie Stewart formed their unbreakable bond performing throughout the fringes of Chicago’s many interlocking communities, collaborating with titans from the city’s indie rock, hip-hop, and improvised worlds. But together, along with drummer […]
Our annual Lit Walk series will present readings with Mission Creek Festival 2022 writers in retailers and venues around downtown Iowa City. Round 1 5:00 PM – 5:50 PM: SKEW & Brink (Revival), NWP & PromptPress (Basic Goods), Writers of Color Series (Prairie Lights), Rescue Press (White Rabbit) Round 2 6:00 PM – 6:50 PM: […]
Eve L. Ewing Dr. Eve L. Ewing is a Chicago-based sociologist of education. She is the award-winning author of four books, including a book for young readers Maya and the Robot; the poetry collection 1919, the nonfiction work Ghosts in the Schoolyard: Racism and School Closings on Chicago’s South Side, and her first book, the […]
Adia Victoria is a daughter of the South, a born and bred South Carolinian who now makes her home in Nashville, Tennessee. It is no surprise, then, that stories of the South find their way into her music, into the lyrics she pens and the chords she plays. It has been the case through her […]
Chicago trio FACS never stop pushing forward; they’ve honed and refined their stark, minimal scrape and clatter for four years and counting, having risen out of the ashes of beloved Chicago band Disappears in 2018 with the bone-rattling intensity of Negative Houses. The trio return in 2021 with Present Tense, their fourth album and perhaps […]
Good Morning Midnight began spontaneously, like a trip for ice cream or human combustion, when a record store in Iowa became sentient and began immediately devouring itself. The psychedelic folk music was gnashed to bits with every mouthful, the country records ended up smeared in dissonance from a stack of 90’s rock albums someone set […]
Sasha taqwšəblu LaPointe is from the Upper Skagit and Nooksack Indian Tribes. Native to the Pacific Northwest she draws inspiration from her coastal heritage as well as her life in the city. She writes with a focus on trauma and resilience, ranging topics from PTSD, sexual violence, the work her great grandmother did for the […]
Lake Villain is a multi-disciplinary artist living in Iowa City, and has been creating music in bands and under various solo pseudonyms for the past two decades. His current project is the culmination of a lifetime of passion for music and artistic discovery. It takes the form of “electronic listening music,” composed of synthetically sculpted […]
Ramona and the Sometimes is a Des Moines, IA based five-piece pop rock band led by multimedia artist Ramona Muse Lambert. The group relies on accessible hooks and pop song structures with emotionally raw, often positive and uplifting lyrical content, with an emphasis on encouraging creativity and the self confidence to create art. With Muse […]
Lex Leto x CBE is a pile of friends who like to make noise together. While they are all “classically” “trained” musicians, they depart from their roots in favor of aleatory, noise, and song. Though each member’s individual work is distinct from the next, they share the value of creative exploration. What results is a […]
Born in Nairobi and currently based in Berlin, KMRU is a sound artist and producer whose methods include field recording, improvisation, noise, machine learning, radio art and drones. His music has earned praise from NPR, Pitchfork, Resident Advisor, DJ Mag and Bandcamp. In 2020, he released three albums that showed the depth and range of […]
Championed by NPR, who praised her composition as one of the “Greatest Songs By 21st Century Women+,” and The New York Times, who celebrated her work as one of the “Best Classical Music Tracks of 2018,” Aftab’s liminal sound floats between classical minimalism and new age, Sufi devotional poetry and electronic trance, jazz structures and […]
ALYX RUSH is an alternative pop/rnb recording artist creating waves from the midwest. Growing up in rural Iowa, ALYX became inspired to teach himself on acoustic guitar at a young age which then led to him writing, recording and perfecting his very own sound. After gaining traction locally and internationally, ALYX’s debut single, “Minutes (Rewind)” […]
Although born in Tacoma, Washington, Ahzia Hester would go on to grow up in the state of Iowa. Here, he would discover his interest in illustration, writing and theatre. It was only until his final semester of high school that making music, particularly hip hop music, would catch his attention. A desire to roll out […]
Son Lux is the grand genre-less dream of Los Angeles composer Ryan Lott brought to roiling, vivid life with the help of two New Yorkers, guitarist Rafiq Bhatia and drummer Ian Chang. Each is a writer, producer, and performer with omnivorous taste and a penchant for wild improvisation. The band’s unique mix of electronic pop, […]
Sacramento songwriter Tré Burt’s sophomore album, You, Yeah, You, is a narrated collection of songs featuring a cast of invented characters; heroes, villains, those destitute of salvation and those seeking it. The plots merge for an ultimate reckoning with the archetypal mother of these songs on the final track, “Tell Mary”, “say what you want, […]
Featuring crusty dual vocals and relentless buzzsaw riffs, DRYAD is an anomalous combination that eludes easy classification, using elements of d-beat punk, old school death and atmospheric black metal, along with their own touch of bizarre, blackened forest filth. Since the debut of The Black Pullet EP in early 2017, DRYAD has emerged from the […]
It takes a mix of skill and luck to tend a garden well, but it’s impossible without a certain amount of kindness tended. While the cyclical nature of gardening seems inherent, in some ways, Heynderickx is just beginning. Her debut album, named I Need to Start a Garden out of a search for calm through […]
Using a filtered and treated electric guitar as the starting point for his lush soundscapes, Fennesz has created a personal and groundbreaking discourse throughout his career. Perhaps sculpting the last truly unique vision for the guitar, his luminant compositions are anything but sterile experiments. Fennesz’s world of sound unfolds and resembles sensitive, telescopic recordings of […]
On No One Deserves Happiness, The Body’s Chip King and Lee Buford set out to make “the grossest pop album of all time.” The album themes of despair and isolation are delivered by the unlikely pairing of the Body’s signature heaviness and 80s dance tracks. The Body can emote pain like no other band, and […]
For Sophie Allison, aka Soccer Mommy, color theory is a distillation of hard-won catharsis. The album confronts the ongoing mental health and familial trials that have plagued the 22-year-old artist since pre-pubescence, presenting listeners with an uncompromisingly honest self-portrait, and reminding us exactly why her critically-acclaimed debut, 2018’s Clean, made her a hero to many. […]
Tennyson’s talent has always been undeniable, even if he’s still discovering himself. Born Luke Pretty, his creative mind first bloomed in the basement of his parent’s home in Edmonton, Canada. His younger sister Tess has long been his partner, learning to play drums alongside his work on the key. The siblings cut their teeth on […]
Few artists can pinpoint an emotion as clearly and honestly as Beach Bunny’s Lili Trifilio. On Honeymoon, the excellent debut album from Trifilio’s songwriting project and four-piece band, it’s as if she’s singing about things everyone has felt before but never had the courage to put in words themselves. It’s the stunning culmination of her […]
Cadence Weapon is the musical project of Edmonton-born, Toronto-based rapper, producer and poet Roland “Rollie” Pemberton. The son of a pioneering hip-hop radio DJ, Pemberton was introduced to a diverse library of music at an early age. After teaching himself to rap at age 13, he would soon enter freestyle battles and sit in as […]
Aaron Dilloway is an experimental musician born in 1976. He is an improviser and composer originally from Brighton, MI who works with the manipulation of 8-Track tape loops in combination with voice, tape delays and various organic and electronic sound sources. A founding member of the industrial noise group Wolf Eyes (1998 – 2005), Dilloway […]
The New York City duo of Jasmine Golestaneh and Eddie Cooper aka Tempers specialize in a sleek strain of low-lit poetic synth-pop, the latest statement of which feels like the peak fruition of their elusive alchemy. With their self-produced “New Meaning”, Tempers present an album about navigating the unknown, coping mechanisms and exploring the nature […]
Kassa Overall is a jazz musician, emcee, singer, producer and drummer, a product of New York City’s jazz scene who melds avant-garde experimentation with hip-hop production techniques to tilt the nexus of jazz and hip-hop in unmapped directions, reflecting a panoramic musical background from West Coast G-Funk to the sounds of the New York underground. […]
Squirrel Flower’s heart-rending sophomore album Planet (i), following her 2020 debut I Was Born Swimming, is exactly that. A singular planet, a world entirely of artist Ella Williams’ making. The title came first to her as a joke: it’s her made-up name for the new planet people will inevitably settle and destroy after leaving Earth, […]
Co-Produced by SCOPE Productions Chicago’s nouveau disco inspired rap superstar, United Nations Geneva-visiting activist, and community goofball Ric Wilson has dropped three crucial EP’s “Soul Bounce” (2016) & “Negrow Disco” (2017) & “BANBA” (2018). Performing at Rolling Loud, North Coast, Mamby on the Beach, Tour De Fat and opening for acts such as The Roots, […]
“If there is a refuge from the horrors outside of us, Dos Santos seem to suggest it is in the free and bountiful exchange of ideas and hopes and dreams among friends and fellow travelers, a joy—or at least a forcefulness—found in community.” – Colin Joyce, Noisey Chicago-based alt-Latinx band Dos Santos is set to […]
Sasha taqwšəblu LaPointe is from the Upper Skagit and Nooksack Indian Tribes. Native to the Pacific Northwest she draws inspiration from her coastal heritage as well as her life in the city. She writes with a focus on trauma and resilience, ranging topics from PTSD, sexual violence, the work her great grandmother did for the […]
Lake Villain is a multi-disciplinary artist living in Iowa City, and has been creating music in bands and under various solo pseudonyms for the past two decades. His current project is the culmination of a lifetime of passion for music and artistic discovery. It takes the form of “electronic listening music,” composed of synthetically sculpted […]
Born in Nairobi and currently based in Berlin, KMRU is a sound artist and producer whose methods include field recording, improvisation, noise, machine learning, radio art and drones. His music has earned praise from NPR, Pitchfork, Resident Advisor, DJ Mag and Bandcamp. In 2020, he released three albums that showed the depth and range of […]
ALYX RUSH is an alternative pop/rnb recording artist creating waves from the midwest. Growing up in rural Iowa, ALYX became inspired to teach himself on acoustic guitar at a young age which then led to him writing, recording and perfecting his very own sound. After gaining traction locally and internationally, ALYX’s debut single, “Minutes (Rewind)” […]
Using a filtered and treated electric guitar as the starting point for his lush soundscapes, Fennesz has created a personal and groundbreaking discourse throughout his career. Perhaps sculpting the last truly unique vision for the guitar, his luminant compositions are anything but sterile experiments. Fennesz’s world of sound unfolds and resembles sensitive, telescopic recordings of […]
Tennyson’s talent has always been undeniable, even if he’s still discovering himself. Born Luke Pretty, his creative mind first bloomed in the basement of his parent’s home in Edmonton, Canada. His younger sister Tess has long been his partner, learning to play drums alongside his work on the key. The siblings cut their teeth on […]
The New York City duo of Jasmine Golestaneh and Eddie Cooper aka Tempers specialize in a sleek strain of low-lit poetic synth-pop, the latest statement of which feels like the peak fruition of their elusive alchemy. With their self-produced “New Meaning”, Tempers present an album about navigating the unknown, coping mechanisms and exploring the nature […]
Join us for I.C.E. C.R.E.A.M., the 5th annual Iowa City Expo for Comics and Real Eclectic Alternative Media. The event features local and regional artists and their comics, zines, artbooks, weatables, and ephemera! I.C.E. C.R.E.A.M. is collaboratively presented by Public Space One and Mission Creek Festival. Featured artists: Iowa City Press Co-Op Katie Armentrout | […]
Literary magazines and independent publishers from around the block and across the country will set up shop at FilmScene at The Chauncey. Representing some of the most exciting work in publishing today, this free, day-long event features the following presses: Chapter House, Cleveland State University Poetry Center, Europa Editions, Ice Cube Press, Jaded Ibis Press, […]
SARAH GERARD Sarah Gerard’s essay collection Sunshine State (Harper Perennial, 2017) was a New York Times Editors’ Choice, a finalist for the Southern Book Prize, and was longlisted for the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay. Her novel Binary Star (Two Dollar Radio, 2015) was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Art […]
Sarah Minor Sarah Minor is a writer and interdisciplinary artist and author of Slim Confessions: The Universe as a Spider or Spit (Noemi Press 2021), Bright Archive (Rescue Press 2020), winner of the 2020 Big Other Nonfiction Book Award, and The Persistence of the Bonyleg: Annotated, a chapbook from Essay Press. Minor is the recipient […]
Maaaze is a rock band from Eastern Iowa. Their knack for pop sensibilities, progressive arrangements, and use of effects both in the studio and onstage, has helped them craft a highly regarded sound amongst Eastern Iowa rock circles. Their live show packs a serious punch, a musical and visual journey invites the listener to get […]
Oh Boy Records, founded by John Prine, is taking their record show on the road, and their first stop? Mission Creek Festival! The event will feature a large selection of new and used vinyl, including Vinyl Cup Records exclusives and limited special editions from John Prine, Dan Reeder, Arlo McKinley, and Tré Burt. And that’s not all… Tre Burt will be […]
Five years (it’s been 5 years?) after being shipwrecked on Earth, and assimilation into its many forms of “society” has never been more taxing. While Madi and Hadiza arrived (crash landed) on Earth with a veritable set of skills related to the recycling of intergalactic waste, this has been difficult to translate into gainful employment. […]
Register “Translating continuously feeds my own writing by, among other things, enriching my English and developing my capacities in English. The problem after problem that pose themselves, in translating, require me to become ever more ingenious in my home language.” —Lydia Davis, “Eleven Pleasures of Translating” In this workshop, writers will experiment with translators’ techniques, […]
Wave Cage combines jazz, electronic, and funk sensibilities into a live experience that defies and blends genres, challenges the ear, and invites audience members to re-engage with and reimagine jazz and improvised music. Wave Cage is Nolan Schroeder (sax/electronics), Ryan Garmoe (trumpet/electronics/keyboards), Jarrett Purdy (keyboards/synthesizers/electronics) and Chris Jensen (drums). Stylistically, the band draws heavily from […]
Peel Dream Magazine is the nom de plume for Los Angeles based musician Joe Stevens, who launched the band while living in NYC with the critically acclaimed 2018 album Modern Meta Physic, a mysterious, liminal tribute to the hazy end of ‘90s dream-pop that found its place on numerous “Best of 2018” lists. Channeling a […]
Willy Tea Taylor is a father, brother, and son. His remarkable ability to sing about profound subjects in a simple way makes his songs a great place to lose yourself. Much of that comes from his upbringing. Willy grew up surrounded by rolling hills and horses in the small town of Oakdale, California. Known as […]
Reneice Charles Reneice is a writer, recipe developer, and food photographer often found beachside in Los Angeles, CA. Reneice was the Managing Editor for SKEW Magazine issue 03 // Black Abundance, and will serve as Editor in Chief for issues 04 and 05. She is the author of the queer baking column, Femme Brûlée, formerly […]
There’s an obvious chemistry emanating throughout Ohmme’s music that’s so tangible it can only come from a decades-spanning friendship. Songwriters Sima Cunnningham and Macie Stewart formed their unbreakable bond performing throughout the fringes of Chicago’s many interlocking communities, collaborating with titans from the city’s indie rock, hip-hop, and improvised worlds. But together, along with drummer […]
Adia Victoria is a daughter of the South, a born and bred South Carolinian who now makes her home in Nashville, Tennessee. It is no surprise, then, that stories of the South find their way into her music, into the lyrics she pens and the chords she plays. It has been the case through her […]
Eve L. Ewing Dr. Eve L. Ewing is a Chicago-based sociologist of education. She is the award-winning author of four books, including a book for young readers Maya and the Robot; the poetry collection 1919, the nonfiction work Ghosts in the Schoolyard: Racism and School Closings on Chicago’s South Side, and her first book, the […]
Chicago trio FACS never stop pushing forward; they’ve honed and refined their stark, minimal scrape and clatter for four years and counting, having risen out of the ashes of beloved Chicago band Disappears in 2018 with the bone-rattling intensity of Negative Houses. The trio return in 2021 with Present Tense, their fourth album and perhaps […]
Ramona and the Sometimes is a Des Moines, IA based five-piece pop rock band led by multimedia artist Ramona Muse Lambert. The group relies on accessible hooks and pop song structures with emotionally raw, often positive and uplifting lyrical content, with an emphasis on encouraging creativity and the self confidence to create art. With Muse […]
Championed by NPR, who praised her composition as one of the “Greatest Songs By 21st Century Women+,” and The New York Times, who celebrated her work as one of the “Best Classical Music Tracks of 2018,” Aftab’s liminal sound floats between classical minimalism and new age, Sufi devotional poetry and electronic trance, jazz structures and […]
Sacramento songwriter Tré Burt’s sophomore album, You, Yeah, You, is a narrated collection of songs featuring a cast of invented characters; heroes, villains, those destitute of salvation and those seeking it. The plots merge for an ultimate reckoning with the archetypal mother of these songs on the final track, “Tell Mary”, “say what you want, […]
Featuring crusty dual vocals and relentless buzzsaw riffs, DRYAD is an anomalous combination that eludes easy classification, using elements of d-beat punk, old school death and atmospheric black metal, along with their own touch of bizarre, blackened forest filth. Since the debut of The Black Pullet EP in early 2017, DRYAD has emerged from the […]
For Sophie Allison, aka Soccer Mommy, color theory is a distillation of hard-won catharsis. The album confronts the ongoing mental health and familial trials that have plagued the 22-year-old artist since pre-pubescence, presenting listeners with an uncompromisingly honest self-portrait, and reminding us exactly why her critically-acclaimed debut, 2018’s Clean, made her a hero to many. […]
Cadence Weapon is the musical project of Edmonton-born, Toronto-based rapper, producer and poet Roland “Rollie” Pemberton. The son of a pioneering hip-hop radio DJ, Pemberton was introduced to a diverse library of music at an early age. After teaching himself to rap at age 13, he would soon enter freestyle battles and sit in as […]
Aaron Dilloway is an experimental musician born in 1976. He is an improviser and composer originally from Brighton, MI who works with the manipulation of 8-Track tape loops in combination with voice, tape delays and various organic and electronic sound sources. A founding member of the industrial noise group Wolf Eyes (1998 – 2005), Dilloway […]
Co-Produced by SCOPE Productions Chicago’s nouveau disco inspired rap superstar, United Nations Geneva-visiting activist, and community goofball Ric Wilson has dropped three crucial EP’s “Soul Bounce” (2016) & “Negrow Disco” (2017) & “BANBA” (2018). Performing at Rolling Loud, North Coast, Mamby on the Beach, Tour De Fat and opening for acts such as The Roots, […]
“If there is a refuge from the horrors outside of us, Dos Santos seem to suggest it is in the free and bountiful exchange of ideas and hopes and dreams among friends and fellow travelers, a joy—or at least a forcefulness—found in community.” – Colin Joyce, Noisey Chicago-based alt-Latinx band Dos Santos is set to […]
Our annual Lit Walk series will present readings with Mission Creek Festival 2022 writers in retailers and venues around downtown Iowa City. Round 1 5:00 PM – 5:50 PM: SKEW & Brink (Revival), NWP & PromptPress (Basic Goods), Writers of Color Series (Prairie Lights), Rescue Press (White Rabbit) Round 2 6:00 PM – 6:50 PM: […]
Good Morning Midnight began spontaneously, like a trip for ice cream or human combustion, when a record store in Iowa became sentient and began immediately devouring itself. The psychedelic folk music was gnashed to bits with every mouthful, the country records ended up smeared in dissonance from a stack of 90’s rock albums someone set […]
Lex Leto x CBE is a pile of friends who like to make noise together. While they are all “classically” “trained” musicians, they depart from their roots in favor of aleatory, noise, and song. Though each member’s individual work is distinct from the next, they share the value of creative exploration. What results is a […]
Although born in Tacoma, Washington, Ahzia Hester would go on to grow up in the state of Iowa. Here, he would discover his interest in illustration, writing and theatre. It was only until his final semester of high school that making music, particularly hip hop music, would catch his attention. A desire to roll out […]
Son Lux is the grand genre-less dream of Los Angeles composer Ryan Lott brought to roiling, vivid life with the help of two New Yorkers, guitarist Rafiq Bhatia and drummer Ian Chang. Each is a writer, producer, and performer with omnivorous taste and a penchant for wild improvisation. The band’s unique mix of electronic pop, […]
It takes a mix of skill and luck to tend a garden well, but it’s impossible without a certain amount of kindness tended. While the cyclical nature of gardening seems inherent, in some ways, Heynderickx is just beginning. Her debut album, named I Need to Start a Garden out of a search for calm through […]
On No One Deserves Happiness, The Body’s Chip King and Lee Buford set out to make “the grossest pop album of all time.” The album themes of despair and isolation are delivered by the unlikely pairing of the Body’s signature heaviness and 80s dance tracks. The Body can emote pain like no other band, and […]
Few artists can pinpoint an emotion as clearly and honestly as Beach Bunny’s Lili Trifilio. On Honeymoon, the excellent debut album from Trifilio’s songwriting project and four-piece band, it’s as if she’s singing about things everyone has felt before but never had the courage to put in words themselves. It’s the stunning culmination of her […]
Kassa Overall is a jazz musician, emcee, singer, producer and drummer, a product of New York City’s jazz scene who melds avant-garde experimentation with hip-hop production techniques to tilt the nexus of jazz and hip-hop in unmapped directions, reflecting a panoramic musical background from West Coast G-Funk to the sounds of the New York underground. […]
Squirrel Flower’s heart-rending sophomore album Planet (i), following her 2020 debut I Was Born Swimming, is exactly that. A singular planet, a world entirely of artist Ella Williams’ making. The title came first to her as a joke: it’s her made-up name for the new planet people will inevitably settle and destroy after leaving Earth, […]
Literary magazines and independent publishers from around the block and across the country will set up shop at FilmScene at The Chauncey. Representing some of the most exciting work in publishing today, this free, day-long event features the following presses: Chapter House, Cleveland State University Poetry Center, Europa Editions, Ice Cube Press, Jaded Ibis Press, […]
Join us for I.C.E. C.R.E.A.M., the 5th annual Iowa City Expo for Comics and Real Eclectic Alternative Media. The event features local and regional artists and their comics, zines, artbooks, weatables, and ephemera! I.C.E. C.R.E.A.M. is collaboratively presented by Public Space One and Mission Creek Festival. Featured artists: Iowa City Press Co-Op Katie Armentrout | […]
SARAH GERARD Sarah Gerard’s essay collection Sunshine State (Harper Perennial, 2017) was a New York Times Editors’ Choice, a finalist for the Southern Book Prize, and was longlisted for the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay. Her novel Binary Star (Two Dollar Radio, 2015) was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Art […]
Sarah Minor Sarah Minor is a writer and interdisciplinary artist and author of Slim Confessions: The Universe as a Spider or Spit (Noemi Press 2021), Bright Archive (Rescue Press 2020), winner of the 2020 Big Other Nonfiction Book Award, and The Persistence of the Bonyleg: Annotated, a chapbook from Essay Press. Minor is the recipient […]
Maaaze is a rock band from Eastern Iowa. Their knack for pop sensibilities, progressive arrangements, and use of effects both in the studio and onstage, has helped them craft a highly regarded sound amongst Eastern Iowa rock circles. Their live show packs a serious punch, a musical and visual journey invites the listener to get […]
Five years (it’s been 5 years?) after being shipwrecked on Earth, and assimilation into its many forms of “society” has never been more taxing. While Madi and Hadiza arrived (crash landed) on Earth with a veritable set of skills related to the recycling of intergalactic waste, this has been difficult to translate into gainful employment. […]
Oh Boy Records, founded by John Prine, is taking their record show on the road, and their first stop? Mission Creek Festival! The event will feature a large selection of new and used vinyl, including Vinyl Cup Records exclusives and limited special editions from John Prine, Dan Reeder, Arlo McKinley, and Tré Burt. And that’s not all… Tre Burt will be […]
Wave Cage combines jazz, electronic, and funk sensibilities into a live experience that defies and blends genres, challenges the ear, and invites audience members to re-engage with and reimagine jazz and improvised music. Wave Cage is Nolan Schroeder (sax/electronics), Ryan Garmoe (trumpet/electronics/keyboards), Jarrett Purdy (keyboards/synthesizers/electronics) and Chris Jensen (drums). Stylistically, the band draws heavily from […]
Register “Translating continuously feeds my own writing by, among other things, enriching my English and developing my capacities in English. The problem after problem that pose themselves, in translating, require me to become ever more ingenious in my home language.” —Lydia Davis, “Eleven Pleasures of Translating” In this workshop, writers will experiment with translators’ techniques, […]
Peel Dream Magazine is the nom de plume for Los Angeles based musician Joe Stevens, who launched the band while living in NYC with the critically acclaimed 2018 album Modern Meta Physic, a mysterious, liminal tribute to the hazy end of ‘90s dream-pop that found its place on numerous “Best of 2018” lists. Channeling a […]
Willy Tea Taylor is a father, brother, and son. His remarkable ability to sing about profound subjects in a simple way makes his songs a great place to lose yourself. Much of that comes from his upbringing. Willy grew up surrounded by rolling hills and horses in the small town of Oakdale, California. Known as […]
Reneice Charles Reneice is a writer, recipe developer, and food photographer often found beachside in Los Angeles, CA. Reneice was the Managing Editor for SKEW Magazine issue 03 // Black Abundance, and will serve as Editor in Chief for issues 04 and 05. She is the author of the queer baking column, Femme Brûlée, formerly […]
There’s an obvious chemistry emanating throughout Ohmme’s music that’s so tangible it can only come from a decades-spanning friendship. Songwriters Sima Cunnningham and Macie Stewart formed their unbreakable bond performing throughout the fringes of Chicago’s many interlocking communities, collaborating with titans from the city’s indie rock, hip-hop, and improvised worlds. But together, along with drummer […]
Adia Victoria is a daughter of the South, a born and bred South Carolinian who now makes her home in Nashville, Tennessee. It is no surprise, then, that stories of the South find their way into her music, into the lyrics she pens and the chords she plays. It has been the case through her […]
Eve L. Ewing Dr. Eve L. Ewing is a Chicago-based sociologist of education. She is the award-winning author of four books, including a book for young readers Maya and the Robot; the poetry collection 1919, the nonfiction work Ghosts in the Schoolyard: Racism and School Closings on Chicago’s South Side, and her first book, the […]
Chicago trio FACS never stop pushing forward; they’ve honed and refined their stark, minimal scrape and clatter for four years and counting, having risen out of the ashes of beloved Chicago band Disappears in 2018 with the bone-rattling intensity of Negative Houses. The trio return in 2021 with Present Tense, their fourth album and perhaps […]
Literary magazines and independent publishers from around the block and across the country will set up shop at FilmScene at The Chauncey. Representing some of the most exciting work in publishing today, this free, day-long event features the following presses: Chapter House, Cleveland State University Poetry Center, Europa Editions, Ice Cube Press, Jaded Ibis Press, […]
Join us for I.C.E. C.R.E.A.M., the 5th annual Iowa City Expo for Comics and Real Eclectic Alternative Media. The event features local and regional artists and their comics, zines, artbooks, weatables, and ephemera! I.C.E. C.R.E.A.M. is collaboratively presented by Public Space One and Mission Creek Festival. Featured artists: Iowa City Press Co-Op Katie Armentrout | […]
SARAH GERARD Sarah Gerard’s essay collection Sunshine State (Harper Perennial, 2017) was a New York Times Editors’ Choice, a finalist for the Southern Book Prize, and was longlisted for the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay. Her novel Binary Star (Two Dollar Radio, 2015) was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Art […]
Sarah Minor Sarah Minor is a writer and interdisciplinary artist and author of Slim Confessions: The Universe as a Spider or Spit (Noemi Press 2021), Bright Archive (Rescue Press 2020), winner of the 2020 Big Other Nonfiction Book Award, and The Persistence of the Bonyleg: Annotated, a chapbook from Essay Press. Minor is the recipient […]
Register “Translating continuously feeds my own writing by, among other things, enriching my English and developing my capacities in English. The problem after problem that pose themselves, in translating, require me to become ever more ingenious in my home language.” —Lydia Davis, “Eleven Pleasures of Translating” In this workshop, writers will experiment with translators’ techniques, […]
Reneice Charles Reneice is a writer, recipe developer, and food photographer often found beachside in Los Angeles, CA. Reneice was the Managing Editor for SKEW Magazine issue 03 // Black Abundance, and will serve as Editor in Chief for issues 04 and 05. She is the author of the queer baking column, Femme Brûlée, formerly […]
Eve L. Ewing Dr. Eve L. Ewing is a Chicago-based sociologist of education. She is the award-winning author of four books, including a book for young readers Maya and the Robot; the poetry collection 1919, the nonfiction work Ghosts in the Schoolyard: Racism and School Closings on Chicago’s South Side, and her first book, the […]
Maaaze is a rock band from Eastern Iowa. Their knack for pop sensibilities, progressive arrangements, and use of effects both in the studio and onstage, has helped them craft a highly regarded sound amongst Eastern Iowa rock circles. Their live show packs a serious punch, a musical and visual journey invites the listener to get […]
Oh Boy Records, founded by John Prine, is taking their record show on the road, and their first stop? Mission Creek Festival! The event will feature a large selection of new and used vinyl, including Vinyl Cup Records exclusives and limited special editions from John Prine, Dan Reeder, Arlo McKinley, and Tré Burt. And that’s not all… Tre Burt will be […]
Five years (it’s been 5 years?) after being shipwrecked on Earth, and assimilation into its many forms of “society” has never been more taxing. While Madi and Hadiza arrived (crash landed) on Earth with a veritable set of skills related to the recycling of intergalactic waste, this has been difficult to translate into gainful employment. […]
Wave Cage combines jazz, electronic, and funk sensibilities into a live experience that defies and blends genres, challenges the ear, and invites audience members to re-engage with and reimagine jazz and improvised music. Wave Cage is Nolan Schroeder (sax/electronics), Ryan Garmoe (trumpet/electronics/keyboards), Jarrett Purdy (keyboards/synthesizers/electronics) and Chris Jensen (drums). Stylistically, the band draws heavily from […]
Peel Dream Magazine is the nom de plume for Los Angeles based musician Joe Stevens, who launched the band while living in NYC with the critically acclaimed 2018 album Modern Meta Physic, a mysterious, liminal tribute to the hazy end of ‘90s dream-pop that found its place on numerous “Best of 2018” lists. Channeling a […]
Willy Tea Taylor is a father, brother, and son. His remarkable ability to sing about profound subjects in a simple way makes his songs a great place to lose yourself. Much of that comes from his upbringing. Willy grew up surrounded by rolling hills and horses in the small town of Oakdale, California. Known as […]
There’s an obvious chemistry emanating throughout Ohmme’s music that’s so tangible it can only come from a decades-spanning friendship. Songwriters Sima Cunnningham and Macie Stewart formed their unbreakable bond performing throughout the fringes of Chicago’s many interlocking communities, collaborating with titans from the city’s indie rock, hip-hop, and improvised worlds. But together, along with drummer […]
Adia Victoria is a daughter of the South, a born and bred South Carolinian who now makes her home in Nashville, Tennessee. It is no surprise, then, that stories of the South find their way into her music, into the lyrics she pens and the chords she plays. It has been the case through her […]
Chicago trio FACS never stop pushing forward; they’ve honed and refined their stark, minimal scrape and clatter for four years and counting, having risen out of the ashes of beloved Chicago band Disappears in 2018 with the bone-rattling intensity of Negative Houses. The trio return in 2021 with Present Tense, their fourth album and perhaps […]
Ramona and the Sometimes is a Des Moines, IA based five-piece pop rock band led by multimedia artist Ramona Muse Lambert. The group relies on accessible hooks and pop song structures with emotionally raw, often positive and uplifting lyrical content, with an emphasis on encouraging creativity and the self confidence to create art. With Muse […]
Championed by NPR, who praised her composition as one of the “Greatest Songs By 21st Century Women+,” and The New York Times, who celebrated her work as one of the “Best Classical Music Tracks of 2018,” Aftab’s liminal sound floats between classical minimalism and new age, Sufi devotional poetry and electronic trance, jazz structures and […]
Sacramento songwriter Tré Burt’s sophomore album, You, Yeah, You, is a narrated collection of songs featuring a cast of invented characters; heroes, villains, those destitute of salvation and those seeking it. The plots merge for an ultimate reckoning with the archetypal mother of these songs on the final track, “Tell Mary”, “say what you want, […]
Featuring crusty dual vocals and relentless buzzsaw riffs, DRYAD is an anomalous combination that eludes easy classification, using elements of d-beat punk, old school death and atmospheric black metal, along with their own touch of bizarre, blackened forest filth. Since the debut of The Black Pullet EP in early 2017, DRYAD has emerged from the […]
For Sophie Allison, aka Soccer Mommy, color theory is a distillation of hard-won catharsis. The album confronts the ongoing mental health and familial trials that have plagued the 22-year-old artist since pre-pubescence, presenting listeners with an uncompromisingly honest self-portrait, and reminding us exactly why her critically-acclaimed debut, 2018’s Clean, made her a hero to many. […]
Cadence Weapon is the musical project of Edmonton-born, Toronto-based rapper, producer and poet Roland “Rollie” Pemberton. The son of a pioneering hip-hop radio DJ, Pemberton was introduced to a diverse library of music at an early age. After teaching himself to rap at age 13, he would soon enter freestyle battles and sit in as […]
Aaron Dilloway is an experimental musician born in 1976. He is an improviser and composer originally from Brighton, MI who works with the manipulation of 8-Track tape loops in combination with voice, tape delays and various organic and electronic sound sources. A founding member of the industrial noise group Wolf Eyes (1998 – 2005), Dilloway […]
Co-Produced by SCOPE Productions Chicago’s nouveau disco inspired rap superstar, United Nations Geneva-visiting activist, and community goofball Ric Wilson has dropped three crucial EP’s “Soul Bounce” (2016) & “Negrow Disco” (2017) & “BANBA” (2018). Performing at Rolling Loud, North Coast, Mamby on the Beach, Tour De Fat and opening for acts such as The Roots, […]
“If there is a refuge from the horrors outside of us, Dos Santos seem to suggest it is in the free and bountiful exchange of ideas and hopes and dreams among friends and fellow travelers, a joy—or at least a forcefulness—found in community.” – Colin Joyce, Noisey Chicago-based alt-Latinx band Dos Santos is set to […]
Join us for I.C.E. C.R.E.A.M., the 5th annual Iowa City Expo for Comics and Real Eclectic Alternative Media. The event features local and regional artists and their comics, zines, artbooks, weatables, and ephemera! I.C.E. C.R.E.A.M. is collaboratively presented by Public Space One and Mission Creek Festival. Featured artists: Iowa City Press Co-Op Katie Armentrout | […]
Literary magazines and independent publishers from around the block and across the country will set up shop at FilmScene at The Chauncey. Representing some of the most exciting work in publishing today, this free, day-long event features the following presses: Chapter House, Cleveland State University Poetry Center, Europa Editions, Ice Cube Press, Jaded Ibis Press, […]
SARAH GERARD Sarah Gerard’s essay collection Sunshine State (Harper Perennial, 2017) was a New York Times Editors’ Choice, a finalist for the Southern Book Prize, and was longlisted for the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay. Her novel Binary Star (Two Dollar Radio, 2015) was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Art […]
Sarah Minor Sarah Minor is a writer and interdisciplinary artist and author of Slim Confessions: The Universe as a Spider or Spit (Noemi Press 2021), Bright Archive (Rescue Press 2020), winner of the 2020 Big Other Nonfiction Book Award, and The Persistence of the Bonyleg: Annotated, a chapbook from Essay Press. Minor is the recipient […]
Maaaze is a rock band from Eastern Iowa. Their knack for pop sensibilities, progressive arrangements, and use of effects both in the studio and onstage, has helped them craft a highly regarded sound amongst Eastern Iowa rock circles. Their live show packs a serious punch, a musical and visual journey invites the listener to get […]
Oh Boy Records, founded by John Prine, is taking their record show on the road, and their first stop? Mission Creek Festival! The event will feature a large selection of new and used vinyl, including Vinyl Cup Records exclusives and limited special editions from John Prine, Dan Reeder, Arlo McKinley, and Tré Burt. And that’s not all… Tre Burt will be […]
Five years (it’s been 5 years?) after being shipwrecked on Earth, and assimilation into its many forms of “society” has never been more taxing. While Madi and Hadiza arrived (crash landed) on Earth with a veritable set of skills related to the recycling of intergalactic waste, this has been difficult to translate into gainful employment. […]
Register “Translating continuously feeds my own writing by, among other things, enriching my English and developing my capacities in English. The problem after problem that pose themselves, in translating, require me to become ever more ingenious in my home language.” —Lydia Davis, “Eleven Pleasures of Translating” In this workshop, writers will experiment with translators’ techniques, […]
Wave Cage combines jazz, electronic, and funk sensibilities into a live experience that defies and blends genres, challenges the ear, and invites audience members to re-engage with and reimagine jazz and improvised music. Wave Cage is Nolan Schroeder (sax/electronics), Ryan Garmoe (trumpet/electronics/keyboards), Jarrett Purdy (keyboards/synthesizers/electronics) and Chris Jensen (drums). Stylistically, the band draws heavily from […]
Peel Dream Magazine is the nom de plume for Los Angeles based musician Joe Stevens, who launched the band while living in NYC with the critically acclaimed 2018 album Modern Meta Physic, a mysterious, liminal tribute to the hazy end of ‘90s dream-pop that found its place on numerous “Best of 2018” lists. Channeling a […]
Willy Tea Taylor is a father, brother, and son. His remarkable ability to sing about profound subjects in a simple way makes his songs a great place to lose yourself. Much of that comes from his upbringing. Willy grew up surrounded by rolling hills and horses in the small town of Oakdale, California. Known as […]
Reneice Charles Reneice is a writer, recipe developer, and food photographer often found beachside in Los Angeles, CA. Reneice was the Managing Editor for SKEW Magazine issue 03 // Black Abundance, and will serve as Editor in Chief for issues 04 and 05. She is the author of the queer baking column, Femme Brûlée, formerly […]
There’s an obvious chemistry emanating throughout Ohmme’s music that’s so tangible it can only come from a decades-spanning friendship. Songwriters Sima Cunnningham and Macie Stewart formed their unbreakable bond performing throughout the fringes of Chicago’s many interlocking communities, collaborating with titans from the city’s indie rock, hip-hop, and improvised worlds. But together, along with drummer […]
Adia Victoria is a daughter of the South, a born and bred South Carolinian who now makes her home in Nashville, Tennessee. It is no surprise, then, that stories of the South find their way into her music, into the lyrics she pens and the chords she plays. It has been the case through her […]
Eve L. Ewing Dr. Eve L. Ewing is a Chicago-based sociologist of education. She is the award-winning author of four books, including a book for young readers Maya and the Robot; the poetry collection 1919, the nonfiction work Ghosts in the Schoolyard: Racism and School Closings on Chicago’s South Side, and her first book, the […]
Chicago trio FACS never stop pushing forward; they’ve honed and refined their stark, minimal scrape and clatter for four years and counting, having risen out of the ashes of beloved Chicago band Disappears in 2018 with the bone-rattling intensity of Negative Houses. The trio return in 2021 with Present Tense, their fourth album and perhaps […]
Ramona and the Sometimes is a Des Moines, IA based five-piece pop rock band led by multimedia artist Ramona Muse Lambert. The group relies on accessible hooks and pop song structures with emotionally raw, often positive and uplifting lyrical content, with an emphasis on encouraging creativity and the self confidence to create art. With Muse […]
Championed by NPR, who praised her composition as one of the “Greatest Songs By 21st Century Women+,” and The New York Times, who celebrated her work as one of the “Best Classical Music Tracks of 2018,” Aftab’s liminal sound floats between classical minimalism and new age, Sufi devotional poetry and electronic trance, jazz structures and […]
Sacramento songwriter Tré Burt’s sophomore album, You, Yeah, You, is a narrated collection of songs featuring a cast of invented characters; heroes, villains, those destitute of salvation and those seeking it. The plots merge for an ultimate reckoning with the archetypal mother of these songs on the final track, “Tell Mary”, “say what you want, […]
Featuring crusty dual vocals and relentless buzzsaw riffs, DRYAD is an anomalous combination that eludes easy classification, using elements of d-beat punk, old school death and atmospheric black metal, along with their own touch of bizarre, blackened forest filth. Since the debut of The Black Pullet EP in early 2017, DRYAD has emerged from the […]
For Sophie Allison, aka Soccer Mommy, color theory is a distillation of hard-won catharsis. The album confronts the ongoing mental health and familial trials that have plagued the 22-year-old artist since pre-pubescence, presenting listeners with an uncompromisingly honest self-portrait, and reminding us exactly why her critically-acclaimed debut, 2018’s Clean, made her a hero to many. […]
Cadence Weapon is the musical project of Edmonton-born, Toronto-based rapper, producer and poet Roland “Rollie” Pemberton. The son of a pioneering hip-hop radio DJ, Pemberton was introduced to a diverse library of music at an early age. After teaching himself to rap at age 13, he would soon enter freestyle battles and sit in as […]
Aaron Dilloway is an experimental musician born in 1976. He is an improviser and composer originally from Brighton, MI who works with the manipulation of 8-Track tape loops in combination with voice, tape delays and various organic and electronic sound sources. A founding member of the industrial noise group Wolf Eyes (1998 – 2005), Dilloway […]
Co-Produced by SCOPE Productions Chicago’s nouveau disco inspired rap superstar, United Nations Geneva-visiting activist, and community goofball Ric Wilson has dropped three crucial EP’s “Soul Bounce” (2016) & “Negrow Disco” (2017) & “BANBA” (2018). Performing at Rolling Loud, North Coast, Mamby on the Beach, Tour De Fat and opening for acts such as The Roots, […]
“If there is a refuge from the horrors outside of us, Dos Santos seem to suggest it is in the free and bountiful exchange of ideas and hopes and dreams among friends and fellow travelers, a joy—or at least a forcefulness—found in community.” – Colin Joyce, Noisey Chicago-based alt-Latinx band Dos Santos is set to […]
Our annual Lit Walk series will present readings with Mission Creek Festival 2022 writers in retailers and venues around downtown Iowa City. Round 1 5:00 PM – 5:50 PM: SKEW & Brink (Revival), NWP & PromptPress (Basic Goods), Writers of Color Series (Prairie Lights), Rescue Press (White Rabbit) Round 2 6:00 PM – 6:50 PM: […]
Our annual Lit Walk series will present readings with Mission Creek Festival 2022 writers in retailers and venues around downtown Iowa City. Round 1 5:00 PM – 5:50 PM: SKEW & Brink (Revival), NWP & PromptPress (Basic Goods), Writers of Color Series (Prairie Lights), Rescue Press (White Rabbit) Round 2 6:00 PM – 6:50 PM: […]
Good Morning Midnight began spontaneously, like a trip for ice cream or human combustion, when a record store in Iowa became sentient and began immediately devouring itself. The psychedelic folk music was gnashed to bits with every mouthful, the country records ended up smeared in dissonance from a stack of 90’s rock albums someone set […]
Lex Leto x CBE is a pile of friends who like to make noise together. While they are all “classically” “trained” musicians, they depart from their roots in favor of aleatory, noise, and song. Though each member’s individual work is distinct from the next, they share the value of creative exploration. What results is a […]
Although born in Tacoma, Washington, Ahzia Hester would go on to grow up in the state of Iowa. Here, he would discover his interest in illustration, writing and theatre. It was only until his final semester of high school that making music, particularly hip hop music, would catch his attention. A desire to roll out […]
Son Lux is the grand genre-less dream of Los Angeles composer Ryan Lott brought to roiling, vivid life with the help of two New Yorkers, guitarist Rafiq Bhatia and drummer Ian Chang. Each is a writer, producer, and performer with omnivorous taste and a penchant for wild improvisation. The band’s unique mix of electronic pop, […]
It takes a mix of skill and luck to tend a garden well, but it’s impossible without a certain amount of kindness tended. While the cyclical nature of gardening seems inherent, in some ways, Heynderickx is just beginning. Her debut album, named I Need to Start a Garden out of a search for calm through […]
On No One Deserves Happiness, The Body’s Chip King and Lee Buford set out to make “the grossest pop album of all time.” The album themes of despair and isolation are delivered by the unlikely pairing of the Body’s signature heaviness and 80s dance tracks. The Body can emote pain like no other band, and […]
Few artists can pinpoint an emotion as clearly and honestly as Beach Bunny’s Lili Trifilio. On Honeymoon, the excellent debut album from Trifilio’s songwriting project and four-piece band, it’s as if she’s singing about things everyone has felt before but never had the courage to put in words themselves. It’s the stunning culmination of her […]
Kassa Overall is a jazz musician, emcee, singer, producer and drummer, a product of New York City’s jazz scene who melds avant-garde experimentation with hip-hop production techniques to tilt the nexus of jazz and hip-hop in unmapped directions, reflecting a panoramic musical background from West Coast G-Funk to the sounds of the New York underground. […]
Squirrel Flower’s heart-rending sophomore album Planet (i), following her 2020 debut I Was Born Swimming, is exactly that. A singular planet, a world entirely of artist Ella Williams’ making. The title came first to her as a joke: it’s her made-up name for the new planet people will inevitably settle and destroy after leaving Earth, […]
Our annual Lit Walk series will present readings with Mission Creek Festival 2022 writers in retailers and venues around downtown Iowa City. Round 1 5:00 PM – 5:50 PM: SKEW & Brink (Revival), NWP & PromptPress (Basic Goods), Writers of Color Series (Prairie Lights), Rescue Press (White Rabbit) Round 2 6:00 PM – 6:50 PM: […]
Good Morning Midnight began spontaneously, like a trip for ice cream or human combustion, when a record store in Iowa became sentient and began immediately devouring itself. The psychedelic folk music was gnashed to bits with every mouthful, the country records ended up smeared in dissonance from a stack of 90’s rock albums someone set […]
Lex Leto x CBE is a pile of friends who like to make noise together. While they are all “classically” “trained” musicians, they depart from their roots in favor of aleatory, noise, and song. Though each member’s individual work is distinct from the next, they share the value of creative exploration. What results is a […]
Although born in Tacoma, Washington, Ahzia Hester would go on to grow up in the state of Iowa. Here, he would discover his interest in illustration, writing and theatre. It was only until his final semester of high school that making music, particularly hip hop music, would catch his attention. A desire to roll out […]
Son Lux is the grand genre-less dream of Los Angeles composer Ryan Lott brought to roiling, vivid life with the help of two New Yorkers, guitarist Rafiq Bhatia and drummer Ian Chang. Each is a writer, producer, and performer with omnivorous taste and a penchant for wild improvisation. The band’s unique mix of electronic pop, […]
It takes a mix of skill and luck to tend a garden well, but it’s impossible without a certain amount of kindness tended. While the cyclical nature of gardening seems inherent, in some ways, Heynderickx is just beginning. Her debut album, named I Need to Start a Garden out of a search for calm through […]
On No One Deserves Happiness, The Body’s Chip King and Lee Buford set out to make “the grossest pop album of all time.” The album themes of despair and isolation are delivered by the unlikely pairing of the Body’s signature heaviness and 80s dance tracks. The Body can emote pain like no other band, and […]
Few artists can pinpoint an emotion as clearly and honestly as Beach Bunny’s Lili Trifilio. On Honeymoon, the excellent debut album from Trifilio’s songwriting project and four-piece band, it’s as if she’s singing about things everyone has felt before but never had the courage to put in words themselves. It’s the stunning culmination of her […]
Kassa Overall is a jazz musician, emcee, singer, producer and drummer, a product of New York City’s jazz scene who melds avant-garde experimentation with hip-hop production techniques to tilt the nexus of jazz and hip-hop in unmapped directions, reflecting a panoramic musical background from West Coast G-Funk to the sounds of the New York underground. […]
Squirrel Flower’s heart-rending sophomore album Planet (i), following her 2020 debut I Was Born Swimming, is exactly that. A singular planet, a world entirely of artist Ella Williams’ making. The title came first to her as a joke: it’s her made-up name for the new planet people will inevitably settle and destroy after leaving Earth, […]
Sasha taqwšəblu LaPointe is from the Upper Skagit and Nooksack Indian Tribes. Native to the Pacific Northwest she draws inspiration from her coastal heritage as well as her life in the city. She writes with a focus on trauma and resilience, ranging topics from PTSD, sexual violence, the work her great grandmother did for the […]
Sasha taqwšəblu LaPointe is from the Upper Skagit and Nooksack Indian Tribes. Native to the Pacific Northwest she draws inspiration from her coastal heritage as well as her life in the city. She writes with a focus on trauma and resilience, ranging topics from PTSD, sexual violence, the work her great grandmother did for the […]
Lake Villain is a multi-disciplinary artist living in Iowa City, and has been creating music in bands and under various solo pseudonyms for the past two decades. His current project is the culmination of a lifetime of passion for music and artistic discovery. It takes the form of “electronic listening music,” composed of synthetically sculpted […]
Born in Nairobi and currently based in Berlin, KMRU is a sound artist and producer whose methods include field recording, improvisation, noise, machine learning, radio art and drones. His music has earned praise from NPR, Pitchfork, Resident Advisor, DJ Mag and Bandcamp. In 2020, he released three albums that showed the depth and range of […]
ALYX RUSH is an alternative pop/rnb recording artist creating waves from the midwest. Growing up in rural Iowa, ALYX became inspired to teach himself on acoustic guitar at a young age which then led to him writing, recording and perfecting his very own sound. After gaining traction locally and internationally, ALYX’s debut single, “Minutes (Rewind)” […]
Using a filtered and treated electric guitar as the starting point for his lush soundscapes, Fennesz has created a personal and groundbreaking discourse throughout his career. Perhaps sculpting the last truly unique vision for the guitar, his luminant compositions are anything but sterile experiments. Fennesz’s world of sound unfolds and resembles sensitive, telescopic recordings of […]
Tennyson’s talent has always been undeniable, even if he’s still discovering himself. Born Luke Pretty, his creative mind first bloomed in the basement of his parent’s home in Edmonton, Canada. His younger sister Tess has long been his partner, learning to play drums alongside his work on the key. The siblings cut their teeth on […]
The New York City duo of Jasmine Golestaneh and Eddie Cooper aka Tempers specialize in a sleek strain of low-lit poetic synth-pop, the latest statement of which feels like the peak fruition of their elusive alchemy. With their self-produced “New Meaning”, Tempers present an album about navigating the unknown, coping mechanisms and exploring the nature […]
Sasha taqwšəblu LaPointe is from the Upper Skagit and Nooksack Indian Tribes. Native to the Pacific Northwest she draws inspiration from her coastal heritage as well as her life in the city. She writes with a focus on trauma and resilience, ranging topics from PTSD, sexual violence, the work her great grandmother did for the […]
Lake Villain is a multi-disciplinary artist living in Iowa City, and has been creating music in bands and under various solo pseudonyms for the past two decades. His current project is the culmination of a lifetime of passion for music and artistic discovery. It takes the form of “electronic listening music,” composed of synthetically sculpted […]
Born in Nairobi and currently based in Berlin, KMRU is a sound artist and producer whose methods include field recording, improvisation, noise, machine learning, radio art and drones. His music has earned praise from NPR, Pitchfork, Resident Advisor, DJ Mag and Bandcamp. In 2020, he released three albums that showed the depth and range of […]
ALYX RUSH is an alternative pop/rnb recording artist creating waves from the midwest. Growing up in rural Iowa, ALYX became inspired to teach himself on acoustic guitar at a young age which then led to him writing, recording and perfecting his very own sound. After gaining traction locally and internationally, ALYX’s debut single, “Minutes (Rewind)” […]
Using a filtered and treated electric guitar as the starting point for his lush soundscapes, Fennesz has created a personal and groundbreaking discourse throughout his career. Perhaps sculpting the last truly unique vision for the guitar, his luminant compositions are anything but sterile experiments. Fennesz’s world of sound unfolds and resembles sensitive, telescopic recordings of […]
Tennyson’s talent has always been undeniable, even if he’s still discovering himself. Born Luke Pretty, his creative mind first bloomed in the basement of his parent’s home in Edmonton, Canada. His younger sister Tess has long been his partner, learning to play drums alongside his work on the key. The siblings cut their teeth on […]
The New York City duo of Jasmine Golestaneh and Eddie Cooper aka Tempers specialize in a sleek strain of low-lit poetic synth-pop, the latest statement of which feels like the peak fruition of their elusive alchemy. With their self-produced “New Meaning”, Tempers present an album about navigating the unknown, coping mechanisms and exploring the nature […]
Billy Dean Thomas (they/them), AKA “The Queer B.I.G” is a Hip-hop recording artist and producer born and raised in Harlem, but currently residing in Boston. Billy Dean challenges the music industry with quick-witted punchlines, that highlight intersectional feminism, social justice, and growing up in a gentrified city. Recently. named one of NPR’s 2020 Slingshot Artists […]
Donika Kelly is the author of the chapbook AVIARIUM (five hundred places) and the full-length collections THE RENUNCIATIONS (Graywolf 2021) and BESTIARY (Graywolf). BESTIARY is the winner of the Cave Canem Poetry Prize, a Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for Poetry, and the Kate Tufts Discovery Award. The collection was also long-listed for the National Book Award […]
Gina Nutt is the author of the essay collection Night Rooms (Two Dollar Radio) and the poetry collection Wilderness Champion (Gold Wake Press). She earned her MFA from Syracuse University. Her writing has appeared in Cosmonauts Avenue, Joyland, Ninth Letter, and other publications.
Nat Baldwin is a bassist, improviser, and songwriter living in Portland, ME. His most recent solo works have been released as a series: AUTONOMIA I: Body Without Organs, AUTONOMIA II: Recombinations, and AUTONOMIA III: Endnotes. After releasing numerous solo albums of songs, the new works explore the intersections of free improvisation, new music, and noise. […]
Amrita “Ami” Kaur Dang is a South Asian-American, Sikh composer, music producer, vocalist, and sitarist from Baltimore. Combining ideas from South Asian music with synthesizers, MIDI controllers, lighting design, and gestural movement, her work invites the audience to reframe their assumptions about the colonial history of music, the arts, technology, and performance and its place […]
Brandon Taylor is the author of the novel Real Life, which was a New York Times Editors’ Choice and a finalist for the Booker Prize. His work has appeared in Guernica, American Short Fiction, Gulf Coast, Buzzfeed Reader, O: The Oprah Magazine, Gay Mag, The New Yorker online, The Literary Review, and elsewhere. He holds […]
Chuy Renteria was raised in the town of West Liberty, IA. He graduated from the University of Iowa with a degree in Dance. A B-boy since the age of 14, he is a central figure in the Iowa dance scene. A latent interest in writing led to his stories being published in the anthology We […]
“Andrea Gibson (they/them/their) is one of the most stirring and influential spoken word artists of our time. Best known for their live performances, in which they regularly sell out large capacity rock clubs and concert halls, Gibson has changed the landscape of what it means to attend a “poetry show” altogether. Gibson’s poems center around […]
“SASAMI (Sasami Ashworth) has been making music of every kind in Los Angeles for the last decade, from playing French horn in orchestras and studios to playing keys and guitar in local rock bands (Dirt Dress, Cherry Glazerr), and playing on albums by and doing arrangements for artists like Curtis Harding, Wild Nothing, and Vagabon. […]
Steubenville, Ohio native MC Animosity is a Rapper/Producer/ and musician. He brings an East coast style and flavor to anything with a good beat. He’s been the lead vocalist for The Uniphonics since the band was formed in 2005. He has been involved in various music projects in Iowa City since 1998, including Hip hop […]
Kiese Laymon is a Black southern writer from Jackson, Mississippi. Laymon’s bestselling memoir, Heavy: An American Memoir, won the 2019 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction, the 2018 Christopher Isherwood Prize for Autobiographical Prose, the Austen Riggs Erikson Prize for Excellence in Mental Health Media, and was named one of the 50 Best Memoirs […]
From the moment she began writing her new album, Japanese Breakfast’s Michelle Zauner knew that she wanted to call it Jubilee. After all, a jubilee is a celebration of the passage of time—a festival to usher in the hope of a new era in brilliant technicolor. Zauner’s first two albums garnered acclaim for the way […]
Each year for Mission Creek Festival welcomes community members and visitors to experience live performance, literary arts, and radical community happenings within intimate venues and spaces of downtown Iowa City. An important piece of each Mission Creek Festival is the memories and experiences made at a number of restaurants and pubs. While the festival remains […]
Billy Dean Thomas (they/them), AKA “The Queer B.I.G” is a Hip-hop recording artist and producer born and raised in Harlem, but currently residing in Boston. Billy Dean challenges the music industry with quick-witted punchlines, that highlight intersectional feminism, social justice, and growing up in a gentrified city. Recently. named one of NPR’s 2020 Slingshot Artists […]
Nat Baldwin is a bassist, improviser, and songwriter living in Portland, ME. His most recent solo works have been released as a series: AUTONOMIA I: Body Without Organs, AUTONOMIA II: Recombinations, and AUTONOMIA III: Endnotes. After releasing numerous solo albums of songs, the new works explore the intersections of free improvisation, new music, and noise. […]
Amrita “Ami” Kaur Dang is a South Asian-American, Sikh composer, music producer, vocalist, and sitarist from Baltimore. Combining ideas from South Asian music with synthesizers, MIDI controllers, lighting design, and gestural movement, her work invites the audience to reframe their assumptions about the colonial history of music, the arts, technology, and performance and its place […]
“SASAMI (Sasami Ashworth) has been making music of every kind in Los Angeles for the last decade, from playing French horn in orchestras and studios to playing keys and guitar in local rock bands (Dirt Dress, Cherry Glazerr), and playing on albums by and doing arrangements for artists like Curtis Harding, Wild Nothing, and Vagabon. […]
Steubenville, Ohio native MC Animosity is a Rapper/Producer/ and musician. He brings an East coast style and flavor to anything with a good beat. He’s been the lead vocalist for The Uniphonics since the band was formed in 2005. He has been involved in various music projects in Iowa City since 1998, including Hip hop […]
From the moment she began writing her new album, Japanese Breakfast’s Michelle Zauner knew that she wanted to call it Jubilee. After all, a jubilee is a celebration of the passage of time—a festival to usher in the hope of a new era in brilliant technicolor. Zauner’s first two albums garnered acclaim for the way […]
Donika Kelly is the author of the chapbook AVIARIUM (five hundred places) and the full-length collections THE RENUNCIATIONS (Graywolf 2021) and BESTIARY (Graywolf). BESTIARY is the winner of the Cave Canem Poetry Prize, a Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for Poetry, and the Kate Tufts Discovery Award. The collection was also long-listed for the National Book Award […]
Gina Nutt is the author of the essay collection Night Rooms (Two Dollar Radio) and the poetry collection Wilderness Champion (Gold Wake Press). She earned her MFA from Syracuse University. Her writing has appeared in Cosmonauts Avenue, Joyland, Ninth Letter, and other publications.
Brandon Taylor is the author of the novel Real Life, which was a New York Times Editors’ Choice and a finalist for the Booker Prize. His work has appeared in Guernica, American Short Fiction, Gulf Coast, Buzzfeed Reader, O: The Oprah Magazine, Gay Mag, The New Yorker online, The Literary Review, and elsewhere. He holds […]
Chuy Renteria was raised in the town of West Liberty, IA. He graduated from the University of Iowa with a degree in Dance. A B-boy since the age of 14, he is a central figure in the Iowa dance scene. A latent interest in writing led to his stories being published in the anthology We […]
“Andrea Gibson (they/them/their) is one of the most stirring and influential spoken word artists of our time. Best known for their live performances, in which they regularly sell out large capacity rock clubs and concert halls, Gibson has changed the landscape of what it means to attend a “poetry show” altogether. Gibson’s poems center around […]
Kiese Laymon is a Black southern writer from Jackson, Mississippi. Laymon’s bestselling memoir, Heavy: An American Memoir, won the 2019 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction, the 2018 Christopher Isherwood Prize for Autobiographical Prose, the Austen Riggs Erikson Prize for Excellence in Mental Health Media, and was named one of the 50 Best Memoirs […]
Each year for Mission Creek Festival welcomes community members and visitors to experience live performance, literary arts, and radical community happenings within intimate venues and spaces of downtown Iowa City. An important piece of each Mission Creek Festival is the memories and experiences made at a number of restaurants and pubs. While the festival remains […]
Billy Dean Thomas (they/them), AKA “The Queer B.I.G” is a Hip-hop recording artist and producer born and raised in Harlem, but currently residing in Boston. Billy Dean challenges the music industry with quick-witted punchlines, that highlight intersectional feminism, social justice, and growing up in a gentrified city. Recently. named one of NPR’s 2020 Slingshot Artists […]
Donika Kelly is the author of the chapbook AVIARIUM (five hundred places) and the full-length collections THE RENUNCIATIONS (Graywolf 2021) and BESTIARY (Graywolf). BESTIARY is the winner of the Cave Canem Poetry Prize, a Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for Poetry, and the Kate Tufts Discovery Award. The collection was also long-listed for the National Book Award […]
Gina Nutt is the author of the essay collection Night Rooms (Two Dollar Radio) and the poetry collection Wilderness Champion (Gold Wake Press). She earned her MFA from Syracuse University. Her writing has appeared in Cosmonauts Avenue, Joyland, Ninth Letter, and other publications.
Nat Baldwin is a bassist, improviser, and songwriter living in Portland, ME. His most recent solo works have been released as a series: AUTONOMIA I: Body Without Organs, AUTONOMIA II: Recombinations, and AUTONOMIA III: Endnotes. After releasing numerous solo albums of songs, the new works explore the intersections of free improvisation, new music, and noise. […]
Amrita “Ami” Kaur Dang is a South Asian-American, Sikh composer, music producer, vocalist, and sitarist from Baltimore. Combining ideas from South Asian music with synthesizers, MIDI controllers, lighting design, and gestural movement, her work invites the audience to reframe their assumptions about the colonial history of music, the arts, technology, and performance and its place […]
Brandon Taylor is the author of the novel Real Life, which was a New York Times Editors’ Choice and a finalist for the Booker Prize. His work has appeared in Guernica, American Short Fiction, Gulf Coast, Buzzfeed Reader, O: The Oprah Magazine, Gay Mag, The New Yorker online, The Literary Review, and elsewhere. He holds […]
Chuy Renteria was raised in the town of West Liberty, IA. He graduated from the University of Iowa with a degree in Dance. A B-boy since the age of 14, he is a central figure in the Iowa dance scene. A latent interest in writing led to his stories being published in the anthology We […]
“Andrea Gibson (they/them/their) is one of the most stirring and influential spoken word artists of our time. Best known for their live performances, in which they regularly sell out large capacity rock clubs and concert halls, Gibson has changed the landscape of what it means to attend a “poetry show” altogether. Gibson’s poems center around […]
“SASAMI (Sasami Ashworth) has been making music of every kind in Los Angeles for the last decade, from playing French horn in orchestras and studios to playing keys and guitar in local rock bands (Dirt Dress, Cherry Glazerr), and playing on albums by and doing arrangements for artists like Curtis Harding, Wild Nothing, and Vagabon. […]
Steubenville, Ohio native MC Animosity is a Rapper/Producer/ and musician. He brings an East coast style and flavor to anything with a good beat. He’s been the lead vocalist for The Uniphonics since the band was formed in 2005. He has been involved in various music projects in Iowa City since 1998, including Hip hop […]
Kiese Laymon is a Black southern writer from Jackson, Mississippi. Laymon’s bestselling memoir, Heavy: An American Memoir, won the 2019 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction, the 2018 Christopher Isherwood Prize for Autobiographical Prose, the Austen Riggs Erikson Prize for Excellence in Mental Health Media, and was named one of the 50 Best Memoirs […]
From the moment she began writing her new album, Japanese Breakfast’s Michelle Zauner knew that she wanted to call it Jubilee. After all, a jubilee is a celebration of the passage of time—a festival to usher in the hope of a new era in brilliant technicolor. Zauner’s first two albums garnered acclaim for the way […]
Each year for Mission Creek Festival welcomes community members and visitors to experience live performance, literary arts, and radical community happenings within intimate venues and spaces of downtown Iowa City. An important piece of each Mission Creek Festival is the memories and experiences made at a number of restaurants and pubs. While the festival remains […]
Literary magazines and independent publishers from around the block and across the country will set up shop at The Mill in Iowa City for the 9th year in a row. Representing some of the most exciting work in publishing today, this free, day-long event features The Sun, Two Dollar Radio, Sarabande, Canarium Books, Rose Metal Press, Nomadic Press, Prompt Press, The Iowa Review, and many more literary up-and-comers as well as indie lit mainstays.
Join us for the Iowa City Expo for Comics and Real Eclectic Media (ICE CREAM) fair presenting the work of cartoonists, zinesters, and art books / handmade book artists. Vendors TBA.
What makes a poem in translation? Are human translators still needed in the age of auto-translate technology? Experiment with sound and translation—and craft a sonic poem of your own—in this nontraditional workshop for non-translators and monolinguists.
Debut Two Dollar Radio author Sarah Rose Etter (The Book of X) and established author Matt Bell (Appleseed, Scrapper)—who first published work with small presses such as Willows Wept, Keyhole, and Mudluscious—will read together in the Indie Showcase at Prairie Lights Bookstore.
Daylight DIY at Trumpet Blossom Cafe Mission Creek’s FREE all-ages, rip-your-face-off showcase of underground acts from across the Midwest and beyond! Featuring local acts Father Christmas, Midwest Waves, and Function as well as St. Louis-based, RedBait! Artist Details RedBait RedBait did not come from a music scene, but instead from the ranks of St Louis activists […]
Subatlantic, an indie rock band based in the Quad Cities, features Becca Rice–lead vocals, guitar, and keyboards; Adam Kaul–guitar; Phil Pracht–drums; and Sean Chapman–bass and cello. Subatlantic formed in 2008, released their first EP in May of 2015 on Bandcamp, and their new 12 song album, “Villains” is out now. With four musicians capable on […]
Garth Greenwell reads from Cleanness, the highly anticipated follow-up to his beloved debut What Belongs to You, alongside Paul Lisicky, author of the acclaimed memoir The Narrow Door as well as his newest book, Later.
Lily DeTaeye‘s music combines the Black Keys’ grit with Brandi Carlile’s eloquent lyric-writing into one high energy show. She’s like if your neighborhood librarian rocked a blues harp in yellow overalls. You definitely don’t wanna miss her. DeTaeye is a Des Moines native, harmonica-wielding singer songwriter signed to Station 1 Records. After the release of […]
Why Bonnie started life as the bedroom recording project of Blair Howerton. The group has grown into a quartet comprised of Kendall Powell, Sam Houdek, and Chance Williams. They’ve released their first two EPs, In Water and Nightgown, via Sports Day Records. Why Bonnie is currently gearing up for a much anticipated release in 2020, […]
Essayist and poet Hanif Abdurraqib and musician Adia Victoria team up for a reading followed by a discussion of their work, including poetry, prose, lyrics, and musical composition.
Already celebrated as the “Heart of Chicago’s Music Community” (Noisey) by both fans and tastemakers alike, OHMME (aka the duo of Sima Cunningham and Macie Stewart) amalgamate the aggressive and the meditative on their bold debut full-length album, Parts. Still in their 20s, Stewart and Cunningham are both classically trained musicians and are established players […]
Co-presented by the National Book Foundation, the Saturday Keynote Reading caps off the day's rich literary offerings and features National Book Award finalist Helen Phillips, award-winning poet Tommy Pico, and graphic essayist Kristen Radtke.
The Minks are Nashville’s “psychedelic-bloos” band, heavy on the rock and roll. We’re talking low-down, all the way, purse-lipped, eyes-shut, head-whirling kind of rock and roll. The band’s palpable sound has roots in every music fan’s top ten—from Lou to Patti to Creedence to Hank. Mixed with raw, jangly instrumentation and soulful saccharine vocals, it’s […]
On her debut album ALONE AT LAST, Tasha celebrates the radical political act of being exquisitely gentle with yourself. For years, the Chicago songwriter has dreamed hard of a better world — she’s worked with the local racial justice organization BLACK YOUTH PROJECT 100 and has been on the front lines at protests around the […]
Columbia, Missouri trio The Hooten Hallers are a high-energy blues-rock band known for hard-traveling and wild live shows, with a seemingly endless tour schedule. The myriad of influences in their music incorporates elements of rhythm & blues, rock’n’roll, honky tonk, jazz, soul, and punk with a thematic penchant for the strange and the unexplained. Their […]
With a sultry and intoxicating voice, Elizabeth Moen lures you in. Paired with introspective lyrics that echo both bitter and sweet, her music will captivate you then stay with you. “Moen is one of those rare artists whose voice, from the first moment you hear it, consumes your entire being, doing away with all previous […]
Spectral Snake is the musical project of Angela Barr and Brooks Strause, devised as a way to tell fantastical horror stories about “real”-life darkness, packaged in subtle, elegant songs. Multi-instrumentalists Barr and Strause (along with an ever-growing gang of collaborators) create eerily beautiful sounds that have been described as the folk music of an alien […]
Dog Dave is a two-piece alternative folk punk band from Iowa City featuring John Quijas on drums and Adelina Reels on guitar and vocals. They perform songs with themes ranging from cats to cars.
Aseethe remains one of the most distinctive and relentless forces in heavy music operating today. Through their ability to constantly evolve and incorporate new sounds and disparate influences into their music, they stand at the vanguard of forward thinking bands like labelmates The Body and SUMAC. Throes is Aseethe at their most daring and focused, […]
Dacus uses her gift as a songwriter to help understand and cope with the world around her, including making sense of national holidays, often more geared towards social media boasts and manufactured consumerism than authentic celebration. “What is going on,” she asks herself on these days, retreating from the heightened expectations of holidays to figure […]
Dos Santos is a quintet just 5 years working in Chicago but already established as one of the city’s most potent, impactful performers. A band known to be at home in a broad spectrum of venues and contexts – as proficient at nailing epic progressive arrangements for summer street festivals in the Latinx culture hub […]
Squirrel Flower’s music is ethereal and warm, gushing with emotional depth that the listener can step into like a warm bath. The band on her new album, I Was Born Swimming, plays with delicate intention, keeping the arrangements natural and light. The album was tracked live, with few overdubs, at The Rare Book Room Studio […]
After studying avant-garde jazz and improvisation with jazz legend Anthony Braxton, Nat Baldwin started writing songs featuring double bass and vocals. Nat’s AUTONOMIA I: Body Without Organs represents a departure from the rich body of solo work he’s amassed as a songwriter and core member of the band Dirty Projectors. It instead marks the return […]
Pity Boy (out July 12th on Don Giovanni Records) is the new full-length by New York musician, Mal Blum. Simply put: Pity Boy is an album that examines the patterns that recur over the course of our lives and what happens when we try (and often fail) to break them. This is not a linear […]
At a recent performance, the host made the mistake of introducing Adia Victoria as an Americana artist. Victoria leaned into the microphone with a correction, “Adia Victoria does not sing Americana, Adia Victoria sings the blues.” From there, the artist let her guitar and powerful lyrics speak for her. After a self-released single that drew […]
Fennesz uses guitar and computer to create shimmering, swirling electronic sound of enormous range and complex musicality. “Imagine the electric guitar severed from cliché and all of its physical limitations, shaping a bold new musical language.” – (City Newspaper, USA). Christian Fennesz is known from his own particular musical world as well as his impeccable […]
A look at the handmade work of indie publishing and the uses and value of artful literary ephemera. More details coming soon! Photo Credit: Long Day Press
The Iowa Writers' House is a non-profit organization dedicated to expanding the writing community in Iowa City by providing programming, workshops, and a welcoming community to use and enjoy by writers from all walks of life. Nomadic Press is a non-profit organization that supports the works of emerging and established writers and artists, through publications (including translations) and performances, by which it aims to build community among artists across disciplines.
Founded in 1970 and edited by faculty, students, and staff from the renowned writing and literature programs at the University of Iowa, The Iowa Review takes advantage of this rich environment for literary collaboration to create a worldwide conversation among those who read and write contemporary literature. Established in 1969, the University of Iowa Press is an academic publisher of poetry, short fiction, and creative nonfiction.
The Iowa Youth Writing Project is a non-profit outreach collective founded by University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop graduates in 2010 that aims to join Iowa City’s unique literary heritage with Iowa’s larger community by empowering, inspiring, and educating Iowa’s youth through language arts and creative thinking.
Subtituladxs is a reading series featuring Spanish language writers from the University of Iowa's Master of Fine Arts in Spanish Creative Writing Program, with English translation provided on-screen.
The Writers of Color Reading Series is a biannual event co-curated by The Englert Theatre and the Iowa Writers' Workshop that features graduate student writers from all University of Iowa creative writing programs as well as featured guests.
Founded in 1976, the University of Iowa's Nonfiction Writing Program was the first creative writing program in the United States dedicated to the study of the literary essay. Each year the NWP Showcase features NWP alumni and students alongside contemporary essayists. In 2020, the showcase features Ander Monson and Lulu Dewey.
Prompt is an online and book arts journal for writing inspired by visual art and visual art inspired by writing.Rose Metal Press is an independent, not-for-profit publisher of hybrid genres specializing in the publication of flash fiction and nonfiction; prose poetry; novels-in-verse or book-length linked poems; novellas-in-flash; lyric essays; text and image works; and other literary works that move beyond the traditional categories of poetry, fiction, and essay to find new forms of expression.
Canarium Books is a small press dedicated to publishing poetry by established and emerging authors from the United States and abroad.
Two Dollar Radio is a family-run publisher of books too loud to ignore, celebrating its 15th anniversary in 2020.
Sarabande is an independent publisher based in Louisville, Kentucky dedicated to poetry, short fiction, and essay.
Already celebrated as the “Heart of Chicago’s Music Community” (Noisey) by both fans and tastemakers alike, OHMME (aka the duo of Sima Cunningham and Macie Stewart) amalgamate the aggressive and the meditative on their bold debut full-length album, Parts. Still in their 20s, Stewart and Cunningham are both classically trained musicians and are established players […]
The Sun is an independent, ad-free magazine that for more than forty years has used words and photographs to evoke the splendor and heartache of being human. Each monthly issue celebrates life, but not in a way that ignores its complexity. The personal essays, short stories, interviews, poetry, and photographs that appear in The Sun’s pages explore the challenges we face and the moments when we rise to meet them.
Over the last half decade, Shabaka Hutchings has established himself as a central figure in the London jazz scene, which is enjoying its greatest creative renaissance since the breakthroughs of Joe Harriott and Evan Parker in the 1960s. Hutchings has a restlessly creative and refreshingly open-minded spirit, playing in a variety of groups, including the […]
Penny Peach (Jr.) is a DIY Princess based in Iowa City. She credits Ty Segall and Ella Fitzgerald as being her greatest inspirations. The Sexi Bois, Wallstreet Dwyer and Wommy McIlhon, were voted ‘Sexiest Backup Band Ever’ by a circle of close friends. “Her band is this perfect combination of jazz, maybe even hints of […]
Purchase is a Art Pop/EDM project of Rachel Lynn Kellogg from Iowa City, Iowa. Founded in 2017, Purchase bends diverse genres like French House and World Music to create boundary pushing music. The newest track from Purchase “Green Butterfly”, calls on the dreamier textures of World music and mixes them with buzzy basslines and urban […]
Dark and brooding, White Batzzz are a 2 piece from Rock Island, Illinois offering the best elements of witchhouse, industrial,noise & pop. Cacophony that is offered within their sound makes you feel something beautiful was dragged through hell then put to a dance beat and stacked against a wall of organized chaos. Offering vocal styles […]
In the 1980s, Kim Gordon founded the experimental post-punk band Sonic Youth out of an early interest in art, aesthetics, and performance. Gordon cites Warhol as one of her artistic influences, particularly the lo-fi aesthetic of Warhol’s studio, as well as his involvement with the Velvet Underground, and his multi-disciplinary practice in fashion, painting, music, […]
Columbia, Missouri trio The Hooten Hallers are a high-energy blues-rock band known for hard-traveling and wild live shows, with a seemingly endless tour schedule. The myriad of influences in their music incorporates elements of rhythm & blues, rock’n’roll, honky tonk, jazz, soul, and punk with a thematic penchant for the strange and the unexplained. Their […]
Iowa City-based producer/vocalist Jim Swim crafts wavy and warm hip-hop that snaps with substance. Swim’s songs unwind like good conversation, moving from the everyday to the abstract, the personal to the universal, with honesty and ease. A lyricist first and foremost, Swim doesn’t shy away from depth, but he also makes bops. There’s a sense […]
Hailing from Madison, WI and Viroqua, WI, Isaac deBroux-Slone and Raina Bock were introduced as infants and went on to transform their life-long friendship into the band Disq in their early teens. Raised by artistically-inclined parents, Raina grew up attending Waldorf schools and learned to play multiple instruments at a very young age, while Isaac […]
Mdou Moctar immediately stands out as one of the most innovative artists in contemporary Saharan music. His unconventional interpretations of Tuareg guitar have pushed him to the forefront of a crowded scene. Back home, he’s celebrated for his original compositions and verbose poetry, an original creator in a genre defined by cover bands. In the […]
For the past two years, Sherwyn has been releasing music under the alias King Monday, acting as a character in which to explore the sleepy, ‘back to work’ down-tempo thoughts of a Monday morning. Last year saw the release of CSTLV on Bonfire Records, which gained notice from Spotify’s Editorial playlists with Conclusions being featured […]
There’s hardly a second when Alex Giannascoli’s voice can’t be heard in “Walk Away,” the opener of his latest album, House of Sugar. The distended, pitched-up wail that introduces the track gives way to cascading layers of his more familiar intonations. “Someday I’m gonna walk away from you,” he sings; “not today.” These are the […]
Dan Padley is a guitarist/composer based out of Iowa City, IA. Since studying music at the University of Iowa, Dan has performed with many artists including Wayne Newton, Elizabeth Moen, River Glen, Dana T, Blake Shaw, comedian Jimmy Pardo, and many more. Dan has released several albums and EPs, including his most recent full length […]
Jenny Offill, the author of the nationwide best seller Dept. of Speculation, reads from her new book Weather, a shimmering tour de force about a family and a nation in crisis.
Lonnie Holley was born on February 10, 1950 in Birmingham, Alabama. From the age of five, Holley worked various jobs: picking up trash at a drive-in movie theatre, washing dishes, and cooking. He lived in a whiskey house, on the state fairgrounds, and in several foster homes. His early life was chaotic and Holley was […]
Nadah El Shazly is a singer and composer living and working in Cairo. She released her critically acclaimed debut album AHWAR in Nov 2017 via Nawa Recordings. Backing up her release with extensive worldwide touring through a solo set and a four-piece band, El Shazly has been featured in local and international festivals including Le […]
Wide Awake! is New York’s Parquet Courts’ fifth record since their formation eight years ago. It’s also their most groundbreaking. It’s an album about independence and individuality but also about collectivity and communitarianism. Love is at its center. There’s also a freshness here, a breaking of new territory that’s testament to the group’s restless spirit. […]
Pulsing is the Quad Cities’ video game rock band! Pulsing uses guitar, drums, and gameboy to create energetic 8-bit tunes that will keep people dancing, laughing, and feeling like kids again. Hyper melodies, frantic beats and happy bleeps bring back memories of playing videogames at a friend’s house on a Saturday night. Pulsing is about […]
The Necks are one of the great cult bands of Australia. Chris Abrahams (piano), Tony Buck (drums), and Lloyd Swanton (bass) conjure a chemistry together that defies description in orthodox terms. Featuring lengthy pieces which slowly unravel in the most mesmerizing fashion, frequently underpinned by an insistent deep groove, the eighteen albums by The Necks […]
Tropical Fuck Storm is an Australian band from Melbourne, Victoria formed by Gareth Liddiard and Fiona Kitschin after taking a hiatus from the art-punk psych band The Drones. Lauren Hammel, from the band High Tension, plays drums and Erica Dunn, from the bands Harmony and Palm Springs, plays guitars, keys and other instruments.
Bestselling author and consummate funny person Samantha Irby, who rose to fame with her blog bitches gotta eat, will release a new essay collection, Wow, No Thank You, just days before headlining the first night of 2020 festivities. Known for her smart, edgy, hilarious, and unabashedly raunchy writing, Irby is also the author of the laugh-out-loud essay collections We’re Never Meeting in Real Life and Meaty. Join us for a reading and conversation with Megan Stielstra, winner of the 2017 Nonfiction Book of the Year from the Chicago Review of Books.
Piano, voice, composition and melody, these are the primary tools she wields to get through to…herself. Tools summoning words to assist in the recursively unfolding Undertaking; to confront and embrace hers and her family’s shadows. She angles lenses available to her; neo-colonialism, romantic rejection, overbearing anxiety, and the maddening oscillations (often overlaps) of invisibility and […]
Groovy. Intimate. Loungey. And of course, neighborly. These are the words Pink Neighbor embodies in sound and vibe. Based in Grinnell, Iowa, multi-instrumentalists Katie In and Erik Jarvis have worked patiently on their songwriting crafts since their teenage years. The deft and diverse output of Pink Neighbor makes this apparent, as they draw from the […]
Irreversible Entanglements are a liberation-oriented free jazz collective formed in early 2015 by saxophonist Keir Neuringer, poet Camae Ayewa (a.k.a. Moor Mother) and bassist Luke Stewart, who came together to perform at a Musicians Against Police Brutality event organized after the slaying of Akai Gurley by the NYPD. Months later, the group added trumpeter Aquiles […]
An obsession with money, an unfaithful lover, a friend’s accidental pregnancy, misogyny, loneliness, death… This is just some of the lighthearted subject matter that make up LONER––the darkly comedic second album from songwriter/producer Caroline Rose. Armed with an arsenal of new instruments and equipment, an ever-growing sense of “ahhh fuck it,” two years of exploration, […]
Katherine Paul is Black Belt Eagle Scout. Released in September of 2018, Mother of My Children was the debut album from Black Belt Eagle Scout, the recording project of Katherine Paul. Heralded as a favorite new musician of 2018 by the likes of NPR Music, Stereogum, and Paste, the album was also named as a […]
Subatlantic, an indie rock band based in the Quad Cities, features Becca Rice–lead vocals, guitar, and keyboards; Adam Kaul–guitar; Phil Pracht–drums; and Sean Chapman–bass and cello. Subatlantic formed in 2008, released their first EP in May of 2015 on Bandcamp, and their new 12 song album, “Villains” is out now. With four musicians capable on […]
Daylight DIY at Trumpet Blossom Cafe Mission Creek’s FREE all-ages, rip-your-face-off showcase of underground acts from across the Midwest and beyond! Featuring local acts Father Christmas, Midwest Waves, and Function as well as St. Louis-based, RedBait! Artist Details RedBait RedBait did not come from a music scene, but instead from the ranks of St Louis activists […]
Lily DeTaeye‘s music combines the Black Keys’ grit with Brandi Carlile’s eloquent lyric-writing into one high energy show. She’s like if your neighborhood librarian rocked a blues harp in yellow overalls. You definitely don’t wanna miss her. DeTaeye is a Des Moines native, harmonica-wielding singer songwriter signed to Station 1 Records. After the release of […]
Why Bonnie started life as the bedroom recording project of Blair Howerton. The group has grown into a quartet comprised of Kendall Powell, Sam Houdek, and Chance Williams. They’ve released their first two EPs, In Water and Nightgown, via Sports Day Records. Why Bonnie is currently gearing up for a much anticipated release in 2020, […]
KRUI 89.7 FM TURNS 40!! Celebrate four decades of UIOWA college radio at our 40th Birthday Bash! Mark your calendars for Saturday, April 6th for our celebration in collaboration with Mission Creek featuring live music from OHYUNG and Blist Her Main KRUI anniversary begins at 3:00 pm (w/ cake!) Doors open for concert at 4:30 […]
Already celebrated as the “Heart of Chicago’s Music Community” (Noisey) by both fans and tastemakers alike, OHMME (aka the duo of Sima Cunningham and Macie Stewart) amalgamate the aggressive and the meditative on their bold debut full-length album, Parts. Still in their 20s, Stewart and Cunningham are both classically trained musicians and are established players […]
The Minks are Nashville’s “psychedelic-bloos” band, heavy on the rock and roll. We’re talking low-down, all the way, purse-lipped, eyes-shut, head-whirling kind of rock and roll. The band’s palpable sound has roots in every music fan’s top ten—from Lou to Patti to Creedence to Hank. Mixed with raw, jangly instrumentation and soulful saccharine vocals, it’s […]
On her debut album ALONE AT LAST, Tasha celebrates the radical political act of being exquisitely gentle with yourself. For years, the Chicago songwriter has dreamed hard of a better world — she’s worked with the local racial justice organization BLACK YOUTH PROJECT 100 and has been on the front lines at protests around the […]
Columbia, Missouri trio The Hooten Hallers are a high-energy blues-rock band known for hard-traveling and wild live shows, with a seemingly endless tour schedule. The myriad of influences in their music incorporates elements of rhythm & blues, rock’n’roll, honky tonk, jazz, soul, and punk with a thematic penchant for the strange and the unexplained. Their […]
With a sultry and intoxicating voice, Elizabeth Moen lures you in. Paired with introspective lyrics that echo both bitter and sweet, her music will captivate you then stay with you. “Moen is one of those rare artists whose voice, from the first moment you hear it, consumes your entire being, doing away with all previous […]
Spectral Snake is the musical project of Angela Barr and Brooks Strause, devised as a way to tell fantastical horror stories about “real”-life darkness, packaged in subtle, elegant songs. Multi-instrumentalists Barr and Strause (along with an ever-growing gang of collaborators) create eerily beautiful sounds that have been described as the folk music of an alien […]
Dog Dave is a two-piece alternative folk punk band from Iowa City featuring John Quijas on drums and Adelina Reels on guitar and vocals. They perform songs with themes ranging from cats to cars.
Aseethe remains one of the most distinctive and relentless forces in heavy music operating today. Through their ability to constantly evolve and incorporate new sounds and disparate influences into their music, they stand at the vanguard of forward thinking bands like labelmates The Body and SUMAC. Throes is Aseethe at their most daring and focused, […]
Dacus uses her gift as a songwriter to help understand and cope with the world around her, including making sense of national holidays, often more geared towards social media boasts and manufactured consumerism than authentic celebration. “What is going on,” she asks herself on these days, retreating from the heightened expectations of holidays to figure […]
Dos Santos is a quintet just 5 years working in Chicago but already established as one of the city’s most potent, impactful performers. A band known to be at home in a broad spectrum of venues and contexts – as proficient at nailing epic progressive arrangements for summer street festivals in the Latinx culture hub […]
Squirrel Flower’s music is ethereal and warm, gushing with emotional depth that the listener can step into like a warm bath. The band on her new album, I Was Born Swimming, plays with delicate intention, keeping the arrangements natural and light. The album was tracked live, with few overdubs, at The Rare Book Room Studio […]
After studying avant-garde jazz and improvisation with jazz legend Anthony Braxton, Nat Baldwin started writing songs featuring double bass and vocals. Nat’s AUTONOMIA I: Body Without Organs represents a departure from the rich body of solo work he’s amassed as a songwriter and core member of the band Dirty Projectors. It instead marks the return […]
Pity Boy (out July 12th on Don Giovanni Records) is the new full-length by New York musician, Mal Blum. Simply put: Pity Boy is an album that examines the patterns that recur over the course of our lives and what happens when we try (and often fail) to break them. This is not a linear […]
At a recent performance, the host made the mistake of introducing Adia Victoria as an Americana artist. Victoria leaned into the microphone with a correction, “Adia Victoria does not sing Americana, Adia Victoria sings the blues.” From there, the artist let her guitar and powerful lyrics speak for her. After a self-released single that drew […]
Fennesz uses guitar and computer to create shimmering, swirling electronic sound of enormous range and complex musicality. “Imagine the electric guitar severed from cliché and all of its physical limitations, shaping a bold new musical language.” – (City Newspaper, USA). Christian Fennesz is known from his own particular musical world as well as his impeccable […]
Already celebrated as the “Heart of Chicago’s Music Community” (Noisey) by both fans and tastemakers alike, OHMME (aka the duo of Sima Cunningham and Macie Stewart) amalgamate the aggressive and the meditative on their bold debut full-length album, Parts. Still in their 20s, Stewart and Cunningham are both classically trained musicians and are established players […]
Over the last half decade, Shabaka Hutchings has established himself as a central figure in the London jazz scene, which is enjoying its greatest creative renaissance since the breakthroughs of Joe Harriott and Evan Parker in the 1960s. Hutchings has a restlessly creative and refreshingly open-minded spirit, playing in a variety of groups, including the […]
Penny Peach (Jr.) is a DIY Princess based in Iowa City. She credits Ty Segall and Ella Fitzgerald as being her greatest inspirations. The Sexi Bois, Wallstreet Dwyer and Wommy McIlhon, were voted ‘Sexiest Backup Band Ever’ by a circle of close friends. “Her band is this perfect combination of jazz, maybe even hints of […]
Purchase is a Art Pop/EDM project of Rachel Lynn Kellogg from Iowa City, Iowa. Founded in 2017, Purchase bends diverse genres like French House and World Music to create boundary pushing music. The newest track from Purchase “Green Butterfly”, calls on the dreamier textures of World music and mixes them with buzzy basslines and urban […]
Dark and brooding, White Batzzz are a 2 piece from Rock Island, Illinois offering the best elements of witchhouse, industrial,noise & pop. Cacophony that is offered within their sound makes you feel something beautiful was dragged through hell then put to a dance beat and stacked against a wall of organized chaos. Offering vocal styles […]
In the 1980s, Kim Gordon founded the experimental post-punk band Sonic Youth out of an early interest in art, aesthetics, and performance. Gordon cites Warhol as one of her artistic influences, particularly the lo-fi aesthetic of Warhol’s studio, as well as his involvement with the Velvet Underground, and his multi-disciplinary practice in fashion, painting, music, […]
Columbia, Missouri trio The Hooten Hallers are a high-energy blues-rock band known for hard-traveling and wild live shows, with a seemingly endless tour schedule. The myriad of influences in their music incorporates elements of rhythm & blues, rock’n’roll, honky tonk, jazz, soul, and punk with a thematic penchant for the strange and the unexplained. Their […]
Iowa City-based producer/vocalist Jim Swim crafts wavy and warm hip-hop that snaps with substance. Swim’s songs unwind like good conversation, moving from the everyday to the abstract, the personal to the universal, with honesty and ease. A lyricist first and foremost, Swim doesn’t shy away from depth, but he also makes bops. There’s a sense […]
Hailing from Madison, WI and Viroqua, WI, Isaac deBroux-Slone and Raina Bock were introduced as infants and went on to transform their life-long friendship into the band Disq in their early teens. Raised by artistically-inclined parents, Raina grew up attending Waldorf schools and learned to play multiple instruments at a very young age, while Isaac […]
Mdou Moctar immediately stands out as one of the most innovative artists in contemporary Saharan music. His unconventional interpretations of Tuareg guitar have pushed him to the forefront of a crowded scene. Back home, he’s celebrated for his original compositions and verbose poetry, an original creator in a genre defined by cover bands. In the […]
For the past two years, Sherwyn has been releasing music under the alias King Monday, acting as a character in which to explore the sleepy, ‘back to work’ down-tempo thoughts of a Monday morning. Last year saw the release of CSTLV on Bonfire Records, which gained notice from Spotify’s Editorial playlists with Conclusions being featured […]
There’s hardly a second when Alex Giannascoli’s voice can’t be heard in “Walk Away,” the opener of his latest album, House of Sugar. The distended, pitched-up wail that introduces the track gives way to cascading layers of his more familiar intonations. “Someday I’m gonna walk away from you,” he sings; “not today.” These are the […]
Dan Padley is a guitarist/composer based out of Iowa City, IA. Since studying music at the University of Iowa, Dan has performed with many artists including Wayne Newton, Elizabeth Moen, River Glen, Dana T, Blake Shaw, comedian Jimmy Pardo, and many more. Dan has released several albums and EPs, including his most recent full length […]
Lonnie Holley was born on February 10, 1950 in Birmingham, Alabama. From the age of five, Holley worked various jobs: picking up trash at a drive-in movie theatre, washing dishes, and cooking. He lived in a whiskey house, on the state fairgrounds, and in several foster homes. His early life was chaotic and Holley was […]
Nadah El Shazly is a singer and composer living and working in Cairo. She released her critically acclaimed debut album AHWAR in Nov 2017 via Nawa Recordings. Backing up her release with extensive worldwide touring through a solo set and a four-piece band, El Shazly has been featured in local and international festivals including Le […]
Wide Awake! is New York’s Parquet Courts’ fifth record since their formation eight years ago. It’s also their most groundbreaking. It’s an album about independence and individuality but also about collectivity and communitarianism. Love is at its center. There’s also a freshness here, a breaking of new territory that’s testament to the group’s restless spirit. […]
Pulsing is the Quad Cities’ video game rock band! Pulsing uses guitar, drums, and gameboy to create energetic 8-bit tunes that will keep people dancing, laughing, and feeling like kids again. Hyper melodies, frantic beats and happy bleeps bring back memories of playing videogames at a friend’s house on a Saturday night. Pulsing is about […]
The Necks are one of the great cult bands of Australia. Chris Abrahams (piano), Tony Buck (drums), and Lloyd Swanton (bass) conjure a chemistry together that defies description in orthodox terms. Featuring lengthy pieces which slowly unravel in the most mesmerizing fashion, frequently underpinned by an insistent deep groove, the eighteen albums by The Necks […]
Tropical Fuck Storm is an Australian band from Melbourne, Victoria formed by Gareth Liddiard and Fiona Kitschin after taking a hiatus from the art-punk psych band The Drones. Lauren Hammel, from the band High Tension, plays drums and Erica Dunn, from the bands Harmony and Palm Springs, plays guitars, keys and other instruments.
Piano, voice, composition and melody, these are the primary tools she wields to get through to…herself. Tools summoning words to assist in the recursively unfolding Undertaking; to confront and embrace hers and her family’s shadows. She angles lenses available to her; neo-colonialism, romantic rejection, overbearing anxiety, and the maddening oscillations (often overlaps) of invisibility and […]
Groovy. Intimate. Loungey. And of course, neighborly. These are the words Pink Neighbor embodies in sound and vibe. Based in Grinnell, Iowa, multi-instrumentalists Katie In and Erik Jarvis have worked patiently on their songwriting crafts since their teenage years. The deft and diverse output of Pink Neighbor makes this apparent, as they draw from the […]
Irreversible Entanglements are a liberation-oriented free jazz collective formed in early 2015 by saxophonist Keir Neuringer, poet Camae Ayewa (a.k.a. Moor Mother) and bassist Luke Stewart, who came together to perform at a Musicians Against Police Brutality event organized after the slaying of Akai Gurley by the NYPD. Months later, the group added trumpeter Aquiles […]
An obsession with money, an unfaithful lover, a friend’s accidental pregnancy, misogyny, loneliness, death… This is just some of the lighthearted subject matter that make up LONER––the darkly comedic second album from songwriter/producer Caroline Rose. Armed with an arsenal of new instruments and equipment, an ever-growing sense of “ahhh fuck it,” two years of exploration, […]
Katherine Paul is Black Belt Eagle Scout. Released in September of 2018, Mother of My Children was the debut album from Black Belt Eagle Scout, the recording project of Katherine Paul. Heralded as a favorite new musician of 2018 by the likes of NPR Music, Stereogum, and Paste, the album was also named as a […]
Literary magazines and independent publishers from around the block and across the country will set up shop at The Mill in Iowa City for the 9th year in a row. Representing some of the most exciting work in publishing today, this free, day-long event features The Sun, Two Dollar Radio, Sarabande, Canarium Books, Rose Metal Press, Nomadic Press, Prompt Press, The Iowa Review, and many more literary up-and-comers as well as indie lit mainstays.
Join us for the Iowa City Expo for Comics and Real Eclectic Media (ICE CREAM) fair presenting the work of cartoonists, zinesters, and art books / handmade book artists. Vendors TBA.
What makes a poem in translation? Are human translators still needed in the age of auto-translate technology? Experiment with sound and translation—and craft a sonic poem of your own—in this nontraditional workshop for non-translators and monolinguists.
Debut Two Dollar Radio author Sarah Rose Etter (The Book of X) and established author Matt Bell (Appleseed, Scrapper)—who first published work with small presses such as Willows Wept, Keyhole, and Mudluscious—will read together in the Indie Showcase at Prairie Lights Bookstore.
Garth Greenwell reads from Cleanness, the highly anticipated follow-up to his beloved debut What Belongs to You, alongside Paul Lisicky, author of the acclaimed memoir The Narrow Door as well as his newest book, Later.
Essayist and poet Hanif Abdurraqib and musician Adia Victoria team up for a reading followed by a discussion of their work, including poetry, prose, lyrics, and musical composition.
Co-presented by the National Book Foundation, the Saturday Keynote Reading caps off the day's rich literary offerings and features National Book Award finalist Helen Phillips, award-winning poet Tommy Pico, and graphic essayist Kristen Radtke.
Aseethe remains one of the most distinctive and relentless forces in heavy music operating today. Through their ability to constantly evolve and incorporate new sounds and disparate influences into their music, they stand at the vanguard of forward thinking bands like labelmates The Body and SUMAC. Throes is Aseethe at their most daring and focused, […]
A look at the handmade work of indie publishing and the uses and value of artful literary ephemera. More details coming soon! Photo Credit: Long Day Press
The Iowa Writers' House is a non-profit organization dedicated to expanding the writing community in Iowa City by providing programming, workshops, and a welcoming community to use and enjoy by writers from all walks of life. Nomadic Press is a non-profit organization that supports the works of emerging and established writers and artists, through publications (including translations) and performances, by which it aims to build community among artists across disciplines.
Subtituladxs is a reading series featuring Spanish language writers from the University of Iowa's Master of Fine Arts in Spanish Creative Writing Program, with English translation provided on-screen.
The Iowa Youth Writing Project is a non-profit outreach collective founded by University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop graduates in 2010 that aims to join Iowa City’s unique literary heritage with Iowa’s larger community by empowering, inspiring, and educating Iowa’s youth through language arts and creative thinking.
Founded in 1970 and edited by faculty, students, and staff from the renowned writing and literature programs at the University of Iowa, The Iowa Review takes advantage of this rich environment for literary collaboration to create a worldwide conversation among those who read and write contemporary literature. Established in 1969, the University of Iowa Press is an academic publisher of poetry, short fiction, and creative nonfiction.
Founded in 1976, the University of Iowa's Nonfiction Writing Program was the first creative writing program in the United States dedicated to the study of the literary essay. Each year the NWP Showcase features NWP alumni and students alongside contemporary essayists. In 2020, the showcase features Ander Monson and Lulu Dewey.
Prompt is an online and book arts journal for writing inspired by visual art and visual art inspired by writing.Rose Metal Press is an independent, not-for-profit publisher of hybrid genres specializing in the publication of flash fiction and nonfiction; prose poetry; novels-in-verse or book-length linked poems; novellas-in-flash; lyric essays; text and image works; and other literary works that move beyond the traditional categories of poetry, fiction, and essay to find new forms of expression.
Canarium Books is a small press dedicated to publishing poetry by established and emerging authors from the United States and abroad.
Two Dollar Radio is a family-run publisher of books too loud to ignore, celebrating its 15th anniversary in 2020.
Sarabande is an independent publisher based in Louisville, Kentucky dedicated to poetry, short fiction, and essay.
The Writers of Color Reading Series is a biannual event co-curated by The Englert Theatre and the Iowa Writers' Workshop that features graduate student writers from all University of Iowa creative writing programs as well as featured guests.
The Sun is an independent, ad-free magazine that for more than forty years has used words and photographs to evoke the splendor and heartache of being human. Each monthly issue celebrates life, but not in a way that ignores its complexity. The personal essays, short stories, interviews, poetry, and photographs that appear in The Sun’s pages explore the challenges we face and the moments when we rise to meet them.
Jenny Offill, the author of the nationwide best seller Dept. of Speculation, reads from her new book Weather, a shimmering tour de force about a family and a nation in crisis.
Bestselling author and consummate funny person Samantha Irby, who rose to fame with her blog bitches gotta eat, will release a new essay collection, Wow, No Thank You, just days before headlining the first night of 2020 festivities. Known for her smart, edgy, hilarious, and unabashedly raunchy writing, Irby is also the author of the laugh-out-loud essay collections We’re Never Meeting in Real Life and Meaty. Join us for a reading and conversation with Megan Stielstra, winner of the 2017 Nonfiction Book of the Year from the Chicago Review of Books.
Literary magazines and independent publishers from around the block and across the country will set up shop at The Mill in Iowa City for the 9th year in a row. Representing some of the most exciting work in publishing today, this free, day-long event features The Sun, Two Dollar Radio, Sarabande, Canarium Books, Rose Metal Press, Nomadic Press, Prompt Press, The Iowa Review, and many more literary up-and-comers as well as indie lit mainstays.
Join us for the Iowa City Expo for Comics and Real Eclectic Media (ICE CREAM) fair presenting the work of cartoonists, zinesters, and art books / handmade book artists. Vendors TBA.
Daylight DIY at Trumpet Blossom Cafe Mission Creek’s FREE all-ages, rip-your-face-off showcase of underground acts from across the Midwest and beyond! Featuring local acts Father Christmas, Midwest Waves, and Function as well as St. Louis-based, RedBait! Artist Details RedBait RedBait did not come from a music scene, but instead from the ranks of St Louis activists […]
Subatlantic, an indie rock band based in the Quad Cities, features Becca Rice–lead vocals, guitar, and keyboards; Adam Kaul–guitar; Phil Pracht–drums; and Sean Chapman–bass and cello. Subatlantic formed in 2008, released their first EP in May of 2015 on Bandcamp, and their new 12 song album, “Villains” is out now. With four musicians capable on […]
Garth Greenwell reads from Cleanness, the highly anticipated follow-up to his beloved debut What Belongs to You, alongside Paul Lisicky, author of the acclaimed memoir The Narrow Door as well as his newest book, Later.
Lily DeTaeye‘s music combines the Black Keys’ grit with Brandi Carlile’s eloquent lyric-writing into one high energy show. She’s like if your neighborhood librarian rocked a blues harp in yellow overalls. You definitely don’t wanna miss her. DeTaeye is a Des Moines native, harmonica-wielding singer songwriter signed to Station 1 Records. After the release of […]
Why Bonnie started life as the bedroom recording project of Blair Howerton. The group has grown into a quartet comprised of Kendall Powell, Sam Houdek, and Chance Williams. They’ve released their first two EPs, In Water and Nightgown, via Sports Day Records. Why Bonnie is currently gearing up for a much anticipated release in 2020, […]
Already celebrated as the “Heart of Chicago’s Music Community” (Noisey) by both fans and tastemakers alike, OHMME (aka the duo of Sima Cunningham and Macie Stewart) amalgamate the aggressive and the meditative on their bold debut full-length album, Parts. Still in their 20s, Stewart and Cunningham are both classically trained musicians and are established players […]
The Minks are Nashville’s “psychedelic-bloos” band, heavy on the rock and roll. We’re talking low-down, all the way, purse-lipped, eyes-shut, head-whirling kind of rock and roll. The band’s palpable sound has roots in every music fan’s top ten—from Lou to Patti to Creedence to Hank. Mixed with raw, jangly instrumentation and soulful saccharine vocals, it’s […]
Columbia, Missouri trio The Hooten Hallers are a high-energy blues-rock band known for hard-traveling and wild live shows, with a seemingly endless tour schedule. The myriad of influences in their music incorporates elements of rhythm & blues, rock’n’roll, honky tonk, jazz, soul, and punk with a thematic penchant for the strange and the unexplained. Their […]
Aseethe remains one of the most distinctive and relentless forces in heavy music operating today. Through their ability to constantly evolve and incorporate new sounds and disparate influences into their music, they stand at the vanguard of forward thinking bands like labelmates The Body and SUMAC. Throes is Aseethe at their most daring and focused, […]
A look at the handmade work of indie publishing and the uses and value of artful literary ephemera. More details coming soon! Photo Credit: Long Day Press
The Iowa Writers' House is a non-profit organization dedicated to expanding the writing community in Iowa City by providing programming, workshops, and a welcoming community to use and enjoy by writers from all walks of life. Nomadic Press is a non-profit organization that supports the works of emerging and established writers and artists, through publications (including translations) and performances, by which it aims to build community among artists across disciplines.
Subtituladxs is a reading series featuring Spanish language writers from the University of Iowa's Master of Fine Arts in Spanish Creative Writing Program, with English translation provided on-screen.
The Iowa Youth Writing Project is a non-profit outreach collective founded by University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop graduates in 2010 that aims to join Iowa City’s unique literary heritage with Iowa’s larger community by empowering, inspiring, and educating Iowa’s youth through language arts and creative thinking.
Founded in 1970 and edited by faculty, students, and staff from the renowned writing and literature programs at the University of Iowa, The Iowa Review takes advantage of this rich environment for literary collaboration to create a worldwide conversation among those who read and write contemporary literature. Established in 1969, the University of Iowa Press is an academic publisher of poetry, short fiction, and creative nonfiction.
Founded in 1976, the University of Iowa's Nonfiction Writing Program was the first creative writing program in the United States dedicated to the study of the literary essay. Each year the NWP Showcase features NWP alumni and students alongside contemporary essayists. In 2020, the showcase features Ander Monson and Lulu Dewey.
Prompt is an online and book arts journal for writing inspired by visual art and visual art inspired by writing.Rose Metal Press is an independent, not-for-profit publisher of hybrid genres specializing in the publication of flash fiction and nonfiction; prose poetry; novels-in-verse or book-length linked poems; novellas-in-flash; lyric essays; text and image works; and other literary works that move beyond the traditional categories of poetry, fiction, and essay to find new forms of expression.
Canarium Books is a small press dedicated to publishing poetry by established and emerging authors from the United States and abroad.
Two Dollar Radio is a family-run publisher of books too loud to ignore, celebrating its 15th anniversary in 2020.
Sarabande is an independent publisher based in Louisville, Kentucky dedicated to poetry, short fiction, and essay.
The Writers of Color Reading Series is a biannual event co-curated by The Englert Theatre and the Iowa Writers' Workshop that features graduate student writers from all University of Iowa creative writing programs as well as featured guests.
The Sun is an independent, ad-free magazine that for more than forty years has used words and photographs to evoke the splendor and heartache of being human. Each monthly issue celebrates life, but not in a way that ignores its complexity. The personal essays, short stories, interviews, poetry, and photographs that appear in The Sun’s pages explore the challenges we face and the moments when we rise to meet them.
Jenny Offill, the author of the nationwide best seller Dept. of Speculation, reads from her new book Weather, a shimmering tour de force about a family and a nation in crisis.
Literary magazines and independent publishers from around the block and across the country will set up shop at The Mill in Iowa City for the 9th year in a row. Representing some of the most exciting work in publishing today, this free, day-long event features The Sun, Two Dollar Radio, Sarabande, Canarium Books, Rose Metal Press, Nomadic Press, Prompt Press, The Iowa Review, and many more literary up-and-comers as well as indie lit mainstays.
Join us for the Iowa City Expo for Comics and Real Eclectic Media (ICE CREAM) fair presenting the work of cartoonists, zinesters, and art books / handmade book artists. Vendors TBA.
What makes a poem in translation? Are human translators still needed in the age of auto-translate technology? Experiment with sound and translation—and craft a sonic poem of your own—in this nontraditional workshop for non-translators and monolinguists.
Debut Two Dollar Radio author Sarah Rose Etter (The Book of X) and established author Matt Bell (Appleseed, Scrapper)—who first published work with small presses such as Willows Wept, Keyhole, and Mudluscious—will read together in the Indie Showcase at Prairie Lights Bookstore.
Subatlantic, an indie rock band based in the Quad Cities, features Becca Rice–lead vocals, guitar, and keyboards; Adam Kaul–guitar; Phil Pracht–drums; and Sean Chapman–bass and cello. Subatlantic formed in 2008, released their first EP in May of 2015 on Bandcamp, and their new 12 song album, “Villains” is out now. With four musicians capable on […]
Daylight DIY at Trumpet Blossom Cafe Mission Creek’s FREE all-ages, rip-your-face-off showcase of underground acts from across the Midwest and beyond! Featuring local acts Father Christmas, Midwest Waves, and Function as well as St. Louis-based, RedBait! Artist Details RedBait RedBait did not come from a music scene, but instead from the ranks of St Louis activists […]
Garth Greenwell reads from Cleanness, the highly anticipated follow-up to his beloved debut What Belongs to You, alongside Paul Lisicky, author of the acclaimed memoir The Narrow Door as well as his newest book, Later.
Lily DeTaeye‘s music combines the Black Keys’ grit with Brandi Carlile’s eloquent lyric-writing into one high energy show. She’s like if your neighborhood librarian rocked a blues harp in yellow overalls. You definitely don’t wanna miss her. DeTaeye is a Des Moines native, harmonica-wielding singer songwriter signed to Station 1 Records. After the release of […]
Why Bonnie started life as the bedroom recording project of Blair Howerton. The group has grown into a quartet comprised of Kendall Powell, Sam Houdek, and Chance Williams. They’ve released their first two EPs, In Water and Nightgown, via Sports Day Records. Why Bonnie is currently gearing up for a much anticipated release in 2020, […]
Essayist and poet Hanif Abdurraqib and musician Adia Victoria team up for a reading followed by a discussion of their work, including poetry, prose, lyrics, and musical composition.
Already celebrated as the “Heart of Chicago’s Music Community” (Noisey) by both fans and tastemakers alike, OHMME (aka the duo of Sima Cunningham and Macie Stewart) amalgamate the aggressive and the meditative on their bold debut full-length album, Parts. Still in their 20s, Stewart and Cunningham are both classically trained musicians and are established players […]
KRUI 89.7 FM TURNS 40!! Celebrate four decades of UIOWA college radio at our 40th Birthday Bash! Mark your calendars for Saturday, April 6th for our celebration in collaboration with Mission Creek featuring live music from OHYUNG and Blist Her Main KRUI anniversary begins at 3:00 pm (w/ cake!) Doors open for concert at 4:30 […]
The Minks are Nashville’s “psychedelic-bloos” band, heavy on the rock and roll. We’re talking low-down, all the way, purse-lipped, eyes-shut, head-whirling kind of rock and roll. The band’s palpable sound has roots in every music fan’s top ten—from Lou to Patti to Creedence to Hank. Mixed with raw, jangly instrumentation and soulful saccharine vocals, it’s […]
Co-presented by the National Book Foundation, the Saturday Keynote Reading caps off the day's rich literary offerings and features National Book Award finalist Helen Phillips, award-winning poet Tommy Pico, and graphic essayist Kristen Radtke.
On her debut album ALONE AT LAST, Tasha celebrates the radical political act of being exquisitely gentle with yourself. For years, the Chicago songwriter has dreamed hard of a better world — she’s worked with the local racial justice organization BLACK YOUTH PROJECT 100 and has been on the front lines at protests around the […]
Columbia, Missouri trio The Hooten Hallers are a high-energy blues-rock band known for hard-traveling and wild live shows, with a seemingly endless tour schedule. The myriad of influences in their music incorporates elements of rhythm & blues, rock’n’roll, honky tonk, jazz, soul, and punk with a thematic penchant for the strange and the unexplained. Their […]
With a sultry and intoxicating voice, Elizabeth Moen lures you in. Paired with introspective lyrics that echo both bitter and sweet, her music will captivate you then stay with you. “Moen is one of those rare artists whose voice, from the first moment you hear it, consumes your entire being, doing away with all previous […]
Spectral Snake is the musical project of Angela Barr and Brooks Strause, devised as a way to tell fantastical horror stories about “real”-life darkness, packaged in subtle, elegant songs. Multi-instrumentalists Barr and Strause (along with an ever-growing gang of collaborators) create eerily beautiful sounds that have been described as the folk music of an alien […]
Dog Dave is a two-piece alternative folk punk band from Iowa City featuring John Quijas on drums and Adelina Reels on guitar and vocals. They perform songs with themes ranging from cats to cars.
Aseethe remains one of the most distinctive and relentless forces in heavy music operating today. Through their ability to constantly evolve and incorporate new sounds and disparate influences into their music, they stand at the vanguard of forward thinking bands like labelmates The Body and SUMAC. Throes is Aseethe at their most daring and focused, […]
Dacus uses her gift as a songwriter to help understand and cope with the world around her, including making sense of national holidays, often more geared towards social media boasts and manufactured consumerism than authentic celebration. “What is going on,” she asks herself on these days, retreating from the heightened expectations of holidays to figure […]
Dos Santos is a quintet just 5 years working in Chicago but already established as one of the city’s most potent, impactful performers. A band known to be at home in a broad spectrum of venues and contexts – as proficient at nailing epic progressive arrangements for summer street festivals in the Latinx culture hub […]
Squirrel Flower’s music is ethereal and warm, gushing with emotional depth that the listener can step into like a warm bath. The band on her new album, I Was Born Swimming, plays with delicate intention, keeping the arrangements natural and light. The album was tracked live, with few overdubs, at The Rare Book Room Studio […]
After studying avant-garde jazz and improvisation with jazz legend Anthony Braxton, Nat Baldwin started writing songs featuring double bass and vocals. Nat’s AUTONOMIA I: Body Without Organs represents a departure from the rich body of solo work he’s amassed as a songwriter and core member of the band Dirty Projectors. It instead marks the return […]
Pity Boy (out July 12th on Don Giovanni Records) is the new full-length by New York musician, Mal Blum. Simply put: Pity Boy is an album that examines the patterns that recur over the course of our lives and what happens when we try (and often fail) to break them. This is not a linear […]
At a recent performance, the host made the mistake of introducing Adia Victoria as an Americana artist. Victoria leaned into the microphone with a correction, “Adia Victoria does not sing Americana, Adia Victoria sings the blues.” From there, the artist let her guitar and powerful lyrics speak for her. After a self-released single that drew […]
Fennesz uses guitar and computer to create shimmering, swirling electronic sound of enormous range and complex musicality. “Imagine the electric guitar severed from cliché and all of its physical limitations, shaping a bold new musical language.” – (City Newspaper, USA). Christian Fennesz is known from his own particular musical world as well as his impeccable […]
A look at the handmade work of indie publishing and the uses and value of artful literary ephemera. More details coming soon! Photo Credit: Long Day Press
The Iowa Writers' House is a non-profit organization dedicated to expanding the writing community in Iowa City by providing programming, workshops, and a welcoming community to use and enjoy by writers from all walks of life. Nomadic Press is a non-profit organization that supports the works of emerging and established writers and artists, through publications (including translations) and performances, by which it aims to build community among artists across disciplines.
Founded in 1970 and edited by faculty, students, and staff from the renowned writing and literature programs at the University of Iowa, The Iowa Review takes advantage of this rich environment for literary collaboration to create a worldwide conversation among those who read and write contemporary literature. Established in 1969, the University of Iowa Press is an academic publisher of poetry, short fiction, and creative nonfiction.
The Iowa Youth Writing Project is a non-profit outreach collective founded by University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop graduates in 2010 that aims to join Iowa City’s unique literary heritage with Iowa’s larger community by empowering, inspiring, and educating Iowa’s youth through language arts and creative thinking.
Subtituladxs is a reading series featuring Spanish language writers from the University of Iowa's Master of Fine Arts in Spanish Creative Writing Program, with English translation provided on-screen.
The Writers of Color Reading Series is a biannual event co-curated by The Englert Theatre and the Iowa Writers' Workshop that features graduate student writers from all University of Iowa creative writing programs as well as featured guests.
Founded in 1976, the University of Iowa's Nonfiction Writing Program was the first creative writing program in the United States dedicated to the study of the literary essay. Each year the NWP Showcase features NWP alumni and students alongside contemporary essayists. In 2020, the showcase features Ander Monson and Lulu Dewey.
Prompt is an online and book arts journal for writing inspired by visual art and visual art inspired by writing.Rose Metal Press is an independent, not-for-profit publisher of hybrid genres specializing in the publication of flash fiction and nonfiction; prose poetry; novels-in-verse or book-length linked poems; novellas-in-flash; lyric essays; text and image works; and other literary works that move beyond the traditional categories of poetry, fiction, and essay to find new forms of expression.
Canarium Books is a small press dedicated to publishing poetry by established and emerging authors from the United States and abroad.
Two Dollar Radio is a family-run publisher of books too loud to ignore, celebrating its 15th anniversary in 2020.
Sarabande is an independent publisher based in Louisville, Kentucky dedicated to poetry, short fiction, and essay.
Already celebrated as the “Heart of Chicago’s Music Community” (Noisey) by both fans and tastemakers alike, OHMME (aka the duo of Sima Cunningham and Macie Stewart) amalgamate the aggressive and the meditative on their bold debut full-length album, Parts. Still in their 20s, Stewart and Cunningham are both classically trained musicians and are established players […]
The Sun is an independent, ad-free magazine that for more than forty years has used words and photographs to evoke the splendor and heartache of being human. Each monthly issue celebrates life, but not in a way that ignores its complexity. The personal essays, short stories, interviews, poetry, and photographs that appear in The Sun’s pages explore the challenges we face and the moments when we rise to meet them.
Over the last half decade, Shabaka Hutchings has established himself as a central figure in the London jazz scene, which is enjoying its greatest creative renaissance since the breakthroughs of Joe Harriott and Evan Parker in the 1960s. Hutchings has a restlessly creative and refreshingly open-minded spirit, playing in a variety of groups, including the […]
Penny Peach (Jr.) is a DIY Princess based in Iowa City. She credits Ty Segall and Ella Fitzgerald as being her greatest inspirations. The Sexi Bois, Wallstreet Dwyer and Wommy McIlhon, were voted ‘Sexiest Backup Band Ever’ by a circle of close friends. “Her band is this perfect combination of jazz, maybe even hints of […]
Purchase is a Art Pop/EDM project of Rachel Lynn Kellogg from Iowa City, Iowa. Founded in 2017, Purchase bends diverse genres like French House and World Music to create boundary pushing music. The newest track from Purchase “Green Butterfly”, calls on the dreamier textures of World music and mixes them with buzzy basslines and urban […]
Dark and brooding, White Batzzz are a 2 piece from Rock Island, Illinois offering the best elements of witchhouse, industrial,noise & pop. Cacophony that is offered within their sound makes you feel something beautiful was dragged through hell then put to a dance beat and stacked against a wall of organized chaos. Offering vocal styles […]
In the 1980s, Kim Gordon founded the experimental post-punk band Sonic Youth out of an early interest in art, aesthetics, and performance. Gordon cites Warhol as one of her artistic influences, particularly the lo-fi aesthetic of Warhol’s studio, as well as his involvement with the Velvet Underground, and his multi-disciplinary practice in fashion, painting, music, […]
Columbia, Missouri trio The Hooten Hallers are a high-energy blues-rock band known for hard-traveling and wild live shows, with a seemingly endless tour schedule. The myriad of influences in their music incorporates elements of rhythm & blues, rock’n’roll, honky tonk, jazz, soul, and punk with a thematic penchant for the strange and the unexplained. Their […]
Iowa City-based producer/vocalist Jim Swim crafts wavy and warm hip-hop that snaps with substance. Swim’s songs unwind like good conversation, moving from the everyday to the abstract, the personal to the universal, with honesty and ease. A lyricist first and foremost, Swim doesn’t shy away from depth, but he also makes bops. There’s a sense […]
Hailing from Madison, WI and Viroqua, WI, Isaac deBroux-Slone and Raina Bock were introduced as infants and went on to transform their life-long friendship into the band Disq in their early teens. Raised by artistically-inclined parents, Raina grew up attending Waldorf schools and learned to play multiple instruments at a very young age, while Isaac […]
Mdou Moctar immediately stands out as one of the most innovative artists in contemporary Saharan music. His unconventional interpretations of Tuareg guitar have pushed him to the forefront of a crowded scene. Back home, he’s celebrated for his original compositions and verbose poetry, an original creator in a genre defined by cover bands. In the […]
For the past two years, Sherwyn has been releasing music under the alias King Monday, acting as a character in which to explore the sleepy, ‘back to work’ down-tempo thoughts of a Monday morning. Last year saw the release of CSTLV on Bonfire Records, which gained notice from Spotify’s Editorial playlists with Conclusions being featured […]
There’s hardly a second when Alex Giannascoli’s voice can’t be heard in “Walk Away,” the opener of his latest album, House of Sugar. The distended, pitched-up wail that introduces the track gives way to cascading layers of his more familiar intonations. “Someday I’m gonna walk away from you,” he sings; “not today.” These are the […]
Dan Padley is a guitarist/composer based out of Iowa City, IA. Since studying music at the University of Iowa, Dan has performed with many artists including Wayne Newton, Elizabeth Moen, River Glen, Dana T, Blake Shaw, comedian Jimmy Pardo, and many more. Dan has released several albums and EPs, including his most recent full length […]
Jenny Offill, the author of the nationwide best seller Dept. of Speculation, reads from her new book Weather, a shimmering tour de force about a family and a nation in crisis.
Lonnie Holley was born on February 10, 1950 in Birmingham, Alabama. From the age of five, Holley worked various jobs: picking up trash at a drive-in movie theatre, washing dishes, and cooking. He lived in a whiskey house, on the state fairgrounds, and in several foster homes. His early life was chaotic and Holley was […]
Nadah El Shazly is a singer and composer living and working in Cairo. She released her critically acclaimed debut album AHWAR in Nov 2017 via Nawa Recordings. Backing up her release with extensive worldwide touring through a solo set and a four-piece band, El Shazly has been featured in local and international festivals including Le […]
Wide Awake! is New York’s Parquet Courts’ fifth record since their formation eight years ago. It’s also their most groundbreaking. It’s an album about independence and individuality but also about collectivity and communitarianism. Love is at its center. There’s also a freshness here, a breaking of new territory that’s testament to the group’s restless spirit. […]
Pulsing is the Quad Cities’ video game rock band! Pulsing uses guitar, drums, and gameboy to create energetic 8-bit tunes that will keep people dancing, laughing, and feeling like kids again. Hyper melodies, frantic beats and happy bleeps bring back memories of playing videogames at a friend’s house on a Saturday night. Pulsing is about […]
The Necks are one of the great cult bands of Australia. Chris Abrahams (piano), Tony Buck (drums), and Lloyd Swanton (bass) conjure a chemistry together that defies description in orthodox terms. Featuring lengthy pieces which slowly unravel in the most mesmerizing fashion, frequently underpinned by an insistent deep groove, the eighteen albums by The Necks […]
Tropical Fuck Storm is an Australian band from Melbourne, Victoria formed by Gareth Liddiard and Fiona Kitschin after taking a hiatus from the art-punk psych band The Drones. Lauren Hammel, from the band High Tension, plays drums and Erica Dunn, from the bands Harmony and Palm Springs, plays guitars, keys and other instruments.
Bestselling author and consummate funny person Samantha Irby, who rose to fame with her blog bitches gotta eat, will release a new essay collection, Wow, No Thank You, just days before headlining the first night of 2020 festivities. Known for her smart, edgy, hilarious, and unabashedly raunchy writing, Irby is also the author of the laugh-out-loud essay collections We’re Never Meeting in Real Life and Meaty. Join us for a reading and conversation with Megan Stielstra, winner of the 2017 Nonfiction Book of the Year from the Chicago Review of Books.
Piano, voice, composition and melody, these are the primary tools she wields to get through to…herself. Tools summoning words to assist in the recursively unfolding Undertaking; to confront and embrace hers and her family’s shadows. She angles lenses available to her; neo-colonialism, romantic rejection, overbearing anxiety, and the maddening oscillations (often overlaps) of invisibility and […]
Groovy. Intimate. Loungey. And of course, neighborly. These are the words Pink Neighbor embodies in sound and vibe. Based in Grinnell, Iowa, multi-instrumentalists Katie In and Erik Jarvis have worked patiently on their songwriting crafts since their teenage years. The deft and diverse output of Pink Neighbor makes this apparent, as they draw from the […]
Irreversible Entanglements are a liberation-oriented free jazz collective formed in early 2015 by saxophonist Keir Neuringer, poet Camae Ayewa (a.k.a. Moor Mother) and bassist Luke Stewart, who came together to perform at a Musicians Against Police Brutality event organized after the slaying of Akai Gurley by the NYPD. Months later, the group added trumpeter Aquiles […]
An obsession with money, an unfaithful lover, a friend’s accidental pregnancy, misogyny, loneliness, death… This is just some of the lighthearted subject matter that make up LONER––the darkly comedic second album from songwriter/producer Caroline Rose. Armed with an arsenal of new instruments and equipment, an ever-growing sense of “ahhh fuck it,” two years of exploration, […]
Katherine Paul is Black Belt Eagle Scout. Released in September of 2018, Mother of My Children was the debut album from Black Belt Eagle Scout, the recording project of Katherine Paul. Heralded as a favorite new musician of 2018 by the likes of NPR Music, Stereogum, and Paste, the album was also named as a […]
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, Hurray 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 Daytrotter...
The replay of John Moreland’s network television debut is…glorious and affirming and a sucker punch. He is announced by Stephen Colbert, lights dissolve, and the camera slowly focuses on the person midway across the unadorned stage, revealing him beneath muted blue lights. He is a big man. Seated, alone, cradling his acoustic guitar...
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, Hurray 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 Daytrotter...
The replay of John Moreland’s network television debut is…glorious and affirming and a sucker punch. He is announced by Stephen Colbert, lights dissolve, and the camera slowly focuses on the person midway across the unadorned stage, revealing him beneath muted blue lights. He is a big man. Seated, alone, cradling his acoustic guitar...
The Blake Shaw BIG(ish) Band is an action packed, fun ensuing, dream band lead by bassist/vocalist Blake Shaw of Iowa City. Shaw writes and arranges all the music using the Duke Ellington model of exploiting all his friends’ talents and strengths on their instruments. The show contains many burning solos, grooves for days, and plenty […]
Join us for the Iowa City Expo for Comics and Real Eclectic Media (ICE CREAM) fair presenting the work of cartoonists, zinesters, and art books / handmade book artists. Vendors TBA...
Literary magazines and independent publishers from across the country, and right here in Iowa City, will set up shop at The Mill in Iowa City for the 9th year in a row, representing some of the most exciting work in publishing today. Lineup includes: The Believer, The Iowa Review, Container Press, Two Dollar Radio, and more...
Michael Martone's recent books are The Moon Over Wapakoneta, Brooding, Winesburg, Indiana, Four for a Quarter, Not Normal, Illinois: Peculiar Fiction from the Flyover, Racing in Place: Collages, Fragments, Postcards, Ruins, a collection of essays...
Ari Braverman is a fiction writer from Iowa City by way of New Orleans and New York. Her work has appeared in BOMB, Guernica, Smokelong Quarterly, and at Tammy Journal. She was shortlisted for the 2017 White Review Short Story Prize. Her debut novel, The Ballad of Big Feeling, will be out later this year from Melville House...
While the Big Free Show takes over the Big Grove stage, record vendors from across Iowa will gather at the Vinyl Market! Vendors include: Bog's Vinyl, The Record Collector...
Our friends at Big Grove Brewery are once again opening their doors and taps to us at the Big Free Show at Big Grove curated by Mission Creek Festival. Becca Mancari is rewriting the rules. Flash in a Pan is an Iowa City string band thats blends contemporary music with traditional folk and grass motifs. Their original compositions combine elements of reggae, country, folk and grass forms to produce tunes with a modern sensibility and respect for tradition...
Poet Hai-Dang Phan joins novelist Mesha Maren in our Debut Showcase Reading where both authors read from their first books. Hai-Dang Phan was born in Vietnam in 1980 and grew up in Wisconsin. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, Poetry, Best American Poetry 2016, and the chapbook, Small Wars. He is the recipient of an NEA Literature Fellowship, the Frederick Bock Prize from Poetry, and the...
Novelist Mesha Maren joins poet Hai-Dang Phan in our Debut Showcase Reading where both authors read from their first books. Mesha Maren is the author of Sugar Run (Algonquin Books, January 2019). Her short stories and essays have appeared in Tin House, Oxford American, Crazyhorse, Southern Cultures, Hobart, Forty Stories: New Writing from Harper Perennial, and elsewhere. She is the recipient of...
Hailing from Northern Michigan, Jonathan Timm built a solid foundation in the Michigan folk scene, leading the songwriting efforts of Blackwater Valley Songs, Birches and The Jeremies and releasing 4 albums before making his move to Nashville in 2011. Once there, his longtime interest in classic country flourished, and he began crafting heart-rending songs under his own name...
Born in Maywood and raised in Peoria, Illinois, Brandon Alexander Williams is a poet, MC and DJ. He is the most recent recipient of the Grant Wood Fellowship and is a visiting instructor at the University of Iowa’s School of Music where he teaches courses in Hip-Hop. Williams is an alumnus of Southern Illinois University-Carbondale...
Sabrina Orah Mark is the author of the poetry collections The Babies and Tsim Tsum. Wild Milk is her first book of fiction. She lives in Athens, Georgia with her...
with Stephanie Burt, Brandon Alexander Williams, & more
As a 2018 Resident Artist at CultureHub, Maxwell Neely-Cohen created a prototype for a space that would visually respond to the live reading of poetry and prose. He brings the latest iteration of this software to Mission Creek, where poets of all stripes will explore the possibilities of technology and poetry in a must-see reading...
Stephanie (also Stephen and Steph) Burt is the author of three poetry collections, Belmont, Parallel Play, and Popular Music, and several collections of critical works. Her essay collection Close Calls with Nonsense was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Her other works include...
Our friends at Big Grove Brewery are once again opening their doors and taps to us at the Big Free Show at Big Grove curated by Mission Creek Festival. Mercy Bell is a “distinct voice with a potent, progressive take on emotive, modern folk” according to Rolling Stone. She comes from Nashville by way of Brooklyn, Massachusetts, California, and Arkansas...
Our friends at Big Grove Brewery are once again opening their doors and taps to us at the Big Free Show at Big Grove curated by Mission Creek Festival. Becca Mancari is rewriting the rules. Born in Staten Island, New York, to an Italian-Irish preacher and a Puerto Rican mother, Mancari has lived a life of transition - from working as a janitor in South Florida, to writing songs with train hoppers in the Blue Ridge Mountains...
Jericho Brown is the recipient of a Whiting Writers’ Award and fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Brown’s first book, Please (New Issues 2008), won the...
Tameka Cage Conley, PhD is a graduate of The Iowa Writers’ Workshop. She currently holds the Provost Postgraduate Visiting Writer Fellowship in fiction and teaches advanced fiction writing at the University of Iowa. As a literary artist, she writes fiction, poetry, plays, librettos and essays...
Our friends at Big Grove Brewery are once again opening their doors and taps to us at the Big Free Show at Big Grove curated by Mission Creek Festival. Middle Western was formed out of a long friendship and discussions the various members had while playing on each others' recordings and the occasional band show organized as a way to play and sing songs written and recorded by other members. The band is made up of singer/songwriter and Anti Records artist William Elliot Whitmore...
Glory Edim is the founder of Well-Read Black Girl, a Brooklyn-based book club and online community that celebrates the uniqueness of Black literature and sisterhood. In fall 2017, she organized the first-ever Well-Read Black Girl Literary Festival. She has worked as a creative strategist for over ten years at startups and cultural institutions, including Kickstarter, The Webby Awards and the New York Foundation for the Arts. She received...
Our friends at Big Grove Brewery are once again opening their doors and taps to us at the Big Free Show at Big Grove curated by Mission Creek Festival. Lilly Hiatt returned with Trinity Lane on August 25th, 2017. The 12-song set was produced by Michael Trent of Shovels & Rope and engineered by Andy Dixon at Trent’s Studio Bees in Johns Island, SC...
Nadalands, the solo songwriting project of Fort Collins, Colorado's John Lindenbaum (The Lonelyhearts, Rust Belt Music), has recorded 12 EPs and a full-length LP since the year 2000. Eager to transition from solo shows to more dynamic live performances, Lindenbaum recruited drummer Benjamin Buttice (Sour Boy, Bitter Girl) and bassist Matt Schild...
With a sultry and intoxicating voice, local artist Elizabeth Moen lures you in. Paired with introspective lyrics that echo both bitter and sweet, her music will captivate you then stay with you. “Moen is one of those rare artists whose voice, from the first moment you hear it, consumes your entire being...
Born of Greek heritage, Ioannis Alexakis started playing music after hearing the first 15-seconds of a Prince song at a young age. He does his best to keep the sounds open-ended, but also maintains the Guthrie ideals in songwriting. He has performed with numerous national acts with Iowa City Hip-Hop collective The AWTHNTKTS and is eager to keep releasing music for a long time...
Pete Dominick, comedian and host of Sirius XM's Stand Up!, will lead a showcase of Chicago and Iowa City-based standup comics, featuring: Arish Singh, Jessica Hong, Alex Kumin, and more...
Pete Dominick, comedian and host of Sirius XM's Stand Up!, will lead a showcase of Chicago and Iowa City-based standup comics, featuring: Arish Singh, Jessica Hong, Alex Kumin, and more...
Pete Dominick, comedian and host of Sirius XM's Stand Up!, will lead a showcase of Chicago and Iowa City-based standup comics, featuring: Arish Singh, Jessica Hong, Alex Kumin, and more...
Pete Dominick, comedian and host of Sirius XM's Stand Up!, will lead a showcase of Chicago and Iowa City-based standup comics, featuring: Arish Singh, Jessica Hong, Alex Kumin, and more...
It had been a successful, if tumultuous, ride for Alynda Segarra, who's been spreading a new kind of roots-conscious folk music across the country from her adopted hometown of New Orleans. But as far as the Bronx native had come with her band, Hurray for the Riff Raff, there was still a missing link to her story...
Tennyson’s talent has always been undeniable, even if he’s still discovering himself. Born Luke Pretty, his creative mind first bloomed in the basement of his parent’s home in Edmonton, Canada. His younger sister Tess has long been his partner, learning to play drums alongside his work on the key. The siblings cut their teeth on […]
For Mock Identity, the sum is both greater than, and equal to, its parts. Comprised of some of the DC experimental music scene's most innovative and forward-thinking musicians - vocalist Adriana-Lucia Cotes (Antonia), guitarist Jeff Barsky (Insect Factory), bassist Joshua David Hoffman (Supersonic Piss), and percussionist Nate Scheible - this post-hardcore quartet is a force of musical resistance that sounds miles away from the musical worlds of avant-pop, free jazz, and ambient drone its members come from...
Makaya McCraven is a beat scientist. The cutting edge drummer, producer, and sonic collagist is a multi-talented force whose inventive process & intuitive style of performance defy categorization. Called “a sound visionary”...
Moor Mother is the viscerally charged output of Philadelphia based interdisciplinary artist, Camae Ayewa. "Moor Mother might be the most radical – even the most useful – Afrofuturist artist to emerge for years. Fetish Bones works not just as an atlas and an archive but as a mausoleum, housing the bones of those who have fallen along a bloody trail stretching all the way back to 1886" — WIR...
If you haven’t panicked lately, you’re either blissfully ignorant or have gone completely clear. For the rest of us attempting to navigate the political, economical, and cultural carnage, Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” succinctly captures the statue of psychic dislocation...
The Blake Shaw BIG(ish) Band is an action packed, fun ensuing, dream band lead by bassist/vocalist Blake Shaw of Iowa City. Shaw writes and arranges all the music using the Duke Ellington model of exploiting all his friends’ talents and strengths on their instruments. The show contains many burning solos, grooves for days, and plenty […]
Our friends at Big Grove Brewery are once again opening their doors and taps to us at the Big Free Show at Big Grove curated by Mission Creek Festival. Becca Mancari is rewriting the rules. Flash in a Pan is an Iowa City string band thats blends contemporary music with traditional folk and grass motifs. Their original compositions combine elements of reggae, country, folk and grass forms to produce tunes with a modern sensibility and respect for tradition...
While the Big Free Show takes over the Big Grove stage, record vendors from across Iowa will gather at the Vinyl Market! Vendors include: Bog's Vinyl, The Record Collector...
Hailing from Northern Michigan, Jonathan Timm built a solid foundation in the Michigan folk scene, leading the songwriting efforts of Blackwater Valley Songs, Birches and The Jeremies and releasing 4 albums before making his move to Nashville in 2011. Once there, his longtime interest in classic country flourished, and he began crafting heart-rending songs under his own name...
Our friends at Big Grove Brewery are once again opening their doors and taps to us at the Big Free Show at Big Grove curated by Mission Creek Festival. Mercy Bell is a “distinct voice with a potent, progressive take on emotive, modern folk” according to Rolling Stone. She comes from Nashville by way of Brooklyn, Massachusetts, California, and Arkansas...
Our friends at Big Grove Brewery are once again opening their doors and taps to us at the Big Free Show at Big Grove curated by Mission Creek Festival. Becca Mancari is rewriting the rules. Born in Staten Island, New York, to an Italian-Irish preacher and a Puerto Rican mother, Mancari has lived a life of transition - from working as a janitor in South Florida, to writing songs with train hoppers in the Blue Ridge Mountains...
Our friends at Big Grove Brewery are once again opening their doors and taps to us at the Big Free Show at Big Grove curated by Mission Creek Festival. Middle Western was formed out of a long friendship and discussions the various members had while playing on each others' recordings and the occasional band show organized as a way to play and sing songs written and recorded by other members. The band is made up of singer/songwriter and Anti Records artist William Elliot Whitmore...
Our friends at Big Grove Brewery are once again opening their doors and taps to us at the Big Free Show at Big Grove curated by Mission Creek Festival. Lilly Hiatt returned with Trinity Lane on August 25th, 2017. The 12-song set was produced by Michael Trent of Shovels & Rope and engineered by Andy Dixon at Trent’s Studio Bees in Johns Island, SC...
Nadalands, the solo songwriting project of Fort Collins, Colorado's John Lindenbaum (The Lonelyhearts, Rust Belt Music), has recorded 12 EPs and a full-length LP since the year 2000. Eager to transition from solo shows to more dynamic live performances, Lindenbaum recruited drummer Benjamin Buttice (Sour Boy, Bitter Girl) and bassist Matt Schild...
With a sultry and intoxicating voice, local artist Elizabeth Moen lures you in. Paired with introspective lyrics that echo both bitter and sweet, her music will captivate you then stay with you. “Moen is one of those rare artists whose voice, from the first moment you hear it, consumes your entire being...
Born of Greek heritage, Ioannis Alexakis started playing music after hearing the first 15-seconds of a Prince song at a young age. He does his best to keep the sounds open-ended, but also maintains the Guthrie ideals in songwriting. He has performed with numerous national acts with Iowa City Hip-Hop collective The AWTHNTKTS and is eager to keep releasing music for a long time...
It had been a successful, if tumultuous, ride for Alynda Segarra, who's been spreading a new kind of roots-conscious folk music across the country from her adopted hometown of New Orleans. But as far as the Bronx native had come with her band, Hurray for the Riff Raff, there was still a missing link to her story...
For Mock Identity, the sum is both greater than, and equal to, its parts. Comprised of some of the DC experimental music scene's most innovative and forward-thinking musicians - vocalist Adriana-Lucia Cotes (Antonia), guitarist Jeff Barsky (Insect Factory), bassist Joshua David Hoffman (Supersonic Piss), and percussionist Nate Scheible - this post-hardcore quartet is a force of musical resistance that sounds miles away from the musical worlds of avant-pop, free jazz, and ambient drone its members come from...
Makaya McCraven is a beat scientist. The cutting edge drummer, producer, and sonic collagist is a multi-talented force whose inventive process & intuitive style of performance defy categorization. Called “a sound visionary”...
Moor Mother is the viscerally charged output of Philadelphia based interdisciplinary artist, Camae Ayewa. "Moor Mother might be the most radical – even the most useful – Afrofuturist artist to emerge for years. Fetish Bones works not just as an atlas and an archive but as a mausoleum, housing the bones of those who have fallen along a bloody trail stretching all the way back to 1886" — WIR...
If you haven’t panicked lately, you’re either blissfully ignorant or have gone completely clear. For the rest of us attempting to navigate the political, economical, and cultural carnage, Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” succinctly captures the statue of psychic dislocation...
Literary magazines and independent publishers from across the country, and right here in Iowa City, will set up shop at The Mill in Iowa City for the 9th year in a row, representing some of the most exciting work in publishing today. Lineup includes: The Believer, The Iowa Review, Container Press, Two Dollar Radio, and more...
Join us for the Iowa City Expo for Comics and Real Eclectic Media (ICE CREAM) fair presenting the work of cartoonists, zinesters, and art books / handmade book artists. Vendors TBA...
Michael Martone's recent books are The Moon Over Wapakoneta, Brooding, Winesburg, Indiana, Four for a Quarter, Not Normal, Illinois: Peculiar Fiction from the Flyover, Racing in Place: Collages, Fragments, Postcards, Ruins, a collection of essays...
Ari Braverman is a fiction writer from Iowa City by way of New Orleans and New York. Her work has appeared in BOMB, Guernica, Smokelong Quarterly, and at Tammy Journal. She was shortlisted for the 2017 White Review Short Story Prize. Her debut novel, The Ballad of Big Feeling, will be out later this year from Melville House...
Novelist Mesha Maren joins poet Hai-Dang Phan in our Debut Showcase Reading where both authors read from their first books. Mesha Maren is the author of Sugar Run (Algonquin Books, January 2019). Her short stories and essays have appeared in Tin House, Oxford American, Crazyhorse, Southern Cultures, Hobart, Forty Stories: New Writing from Harper Perennial, and elsewhere. She is the recipient of...
Poet Hai-Dang Phan joins novelist Mesha Maren in our Debut Showcase Reading where both authors read from their first books. Hai-Dang Phan was born in Vietnam in 1980 and grew up in Wisconsin. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, Poetry, Best American Poetry 2016, and the chapbook, Small Wars. He is the recipient of an NEA Literature Fellowship, the Frederick Bock Prize from Poetry, and the...
Stephanie (also Stephen and Steph) Burt is the author of three poetry collections, Belmont, Parallel Play, and Popular Music, and several collections of critical works. Her essay collection Close Calls with Nonsense was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Her other works include...
Sabrina Orah Mark is the author of the poetry collections The Babies and Tsim Tsum. Wild Milk is her first book of fiction. She lives in Athens, Georgia with her...
with Stephanie Burt, Brandon Alexander Williams, & more
As a 2018 Resident Artist at CultureHub, Maxwell Neely-Cohen created a prototype for a space that would visually respond to the live reading of poetry and prose. He brings the latest iteration of this software to Mission Creek, where poets of all stripes will explore the possibilities of technology and poetry in a must-see reading...
Born in Maywood and raised in Peoria, Illinois, Brandon Alexander Williams is a poet, MC and DJ. He is the most recent recipient of the Grant Wood Fellowship and is a visiting instructor at the University of Iowa’s School of Music where he teaches courses in Hip-Hop. Williams is an alumnus of Southern Illinois University-Carbondale...
Jericho Brown is the recipient of a Whiting Writers’ Award and fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Brown’s first book, Please (New Issues 2008), won the...
Glory Edim is the founder of Well-Read Black Girl, a Brooklyn-based book club and online community that celebrates the uniqueness of Black literature and sisterhood. In fall 2017, she organized the first-ever Well-Read Black Girl Literary Festival. She has worked as a creative strategist for over ten years at startups and cultural institutions, including Kickstarter, The Webby Awards and the New York Foundation for the Arts. She received...
Tameka Cage Conley, PhD is a graduate of The Iowa Writers’ Workshop. She currently holds the Provost Postgraduate Visiting Writer Fellowship in fiction and teaches advanced fiction writing at the University of Iowa. As a literary artist, she writes fiction, poetry, plays, librettos and essays...
Join us for the Iowa City Expo for Comics and Real Eclectic Media (ICE CREAM) fair presenting the work of cartoonists, zinesters, and art books / handmade book artists. Vendors TBA...
Literary magazines and independent publishers from across the country, and right here in Iowa City, will set up shop at The Mill in Iowa City for the 9th year in a row, representing some of the most exciting work in publishing today. Lineup includes: The Believer, The Iowa Review, Container Press, Two Dollar Radio, and more...
While the Big Free Show takes over the Big Grove stage, record vendors from across Iowa will gather at the Vinyl Market! Vendors include: Bog's Vinyl, The Record Collector...
Our friends at Big Grove Brewery are once again opening their doors and taps to us at the Big Free Show at Big Grove curated by Mission Creek Festival. Becca Mancari is rewriting the rules. Flash in a Pan is an Iowa City string band thats blends contemporary music with traditional folk and grass motifs. Their original compositions combine elements of reggae, country, folk and grass forms to produce tunes with a modern sensibility and respect for tradition...
Poet Hai-Dang Phan joins novelist Mesha Maren in our Debut Showcase Reading where both authors read from their first books. Hai-Dang Phan was born in Vietnam in 1980 and grew up in Wisconsin. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, Poetry, Best American Poetry 2016, and the chapbook, Small Wars. He is the recipient of an NEA Literature Fellowship, the Frederick Bock Prize from Poetry, and the...
Hailing from Northern Michigan, Jonathan Timm built a solid foundation in the Michigan folk scene, leading the songwriting efforts of Blackwater Valley Songs, Birches and The Jeremies and releasing 4 albums before making his move to Nashville in 2011. Once there, his longtime interest in classic country flourished, and he began crafting heart-rending songs under his own name...
Our friends at Big Grove Brewery are once again opening their doors and taps to us at the Big Free Show at Big Grove curated by Mission Creek Festival. Mercy Bell is a “distinct voice with a potent, progressive take on emotive, modern folk” according to Rolling Stone. She comes from Nashville by way of Brooklyn, Massachusetts, California, and Arkansas...
with Stephanie Burt, Brandon Alexander Williams, & more
Sabrina Orah Mark is the author of the poetry collections The Babies and Tsim Tsum. Wild Milk is her first book of fiction. She lives in Athens, Georgia with her...
Stephanie (also Stephen and Steph) Burt is the author of three poetry collections, Belmont, Parallel Play, and Popular Music, and several collections of critical works. Her essay collection Close Calls with Nonsense was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Her other works include...
Our friends at Big Grove Brewery are once again opening their doors and taps to us at the Big Free Show at Big Grove curated by Mission Creek Festival. Becca Mancari is rewriting the rules. Born in Staten Island, New York, to an Italian-Irish preacher and a Puerto Rican mother, Mancari has lived a life of transition - from working as a janitor in South Florida, to writing songs with train hoppers in the Blue Ridge Mountains...
Our friends at Big Grove Brewery are once again opening their doors and taps to us at the Big Free Show at Big Grove curated by Mission Creek Festival. Middle Western was formed out of a long friendship and discussions the various members had while playing on each others' recordings and the occasional band show organized as a way to play and sing songs written and recorded by other members. The band is made up of singer/songwriter and Anti Records artist William Elliot Whitmore...
Our friends at Big Grove Brewery are once again opening their doors and taps to us at the Big Free Show at Big Grove curated by Mission Creek Festival. Lilly Hiatt returned with Trinity Lane on August 25th, 2017. The 12-song set was produced by Michael Trent of Shovels & Rope and engineered by Andy Dixon at Trent’s Studio Bees in Johns Island, SC...
Pete Dominick, comedian and host of Sirius XM's Stand Up!, will lead a showcase of Chicago and Iowa City-based standup comics, featuring: Arish Singh, Jessica Hong, Alex Kumin, and more...
Pete Dominick, comedian and host of Sirius XM's Stand Up!, will lead a showcase of Chicago and Iowa City-based standup comics, featuring: Arish Singh, Jessica Hong, Alex Kumin, and more...
Pete Dominick, comedian and host of Sirius XM's Stand Up!, will lead a showcase of Chicago and Iowa City-based standup comics, featuring: Arish Singh, Jessica Hong, Alex Kumin, and more...
Pete Dominick, comedian and host of Sirius XM's Stand Up!, will lead a showcase of Chicago and Iowa City-based standup comics, featuring: Arish Singh, Jessica Hong, Alex Kumin, and more...
The Publishing Reimagined panel highlights independent presses and individuals who are bringing groundbreaking innovations to the presentation of literary work, including novelist Maxwell Neely-Cohen’s visual poetry synthesizer, the text-based objects of Container Press, the vinyl record-only poetry label Fonograf Editions, and Prompt Press, which uses original work from visual artists and writers as a launchpad for creative responses...
Round #1 of our annual Friday evening Lit Walk features readings curated by The Iowa Review & Iowa Writers' House, FC2 & Prompt Press, Action Books & Subtitulados Reading Series, and the Iowa Youth Writing Project at a host of downtown locales...
Round #2 of our annual Friday evening Lit Walk features readings curated by Rescue Press & Monsters of Poetry, Make Magazine & Ninth Letter, and Lit Hub & The Rumpus at a host of downtown locales...
The final round of our 2019 Lit Walk features readings hosted by The Believer and the Writers of Color Reading Series at northside favorites Goosetown Cafe and Haba Salon...
Good Morning Midnight began spontaneously, like a trip for ice cream or human combustion, when a record store in Iowa became sentient and began immediately devouring itself. The psychedelic folk music was gnashed to bits with every mouthful, the country records ended up smeared in dissonance from a stack of 90’s rock albums...
The final round of our 2019 Lit Walk features readings hosted by The Believer and the Writers of Color Reading Series at northside favorites Goosetown Cafe and Haba Salon...
Over the past decade, M:B has been Mission Creek's official underground dance music party. Continually providing the festival and its attendees with some of the best local and regional talent that the Midwest and Colorado have to offer. Now, in the 10th installment, we're kicking things up a few decibels...
On her first proper album as Jay Som, Melina Duterte, 22, solidifies her rep as a self-made force of sonic splendor and emotional might. If last year's aptly named Turn Into compilation showcased a fuzz-loving artist in flux -- chronicling her mission to master bedroom recording -- then the rising Oakland star's latest, Everybody Works, is the LP equivalent of mission accomplished...
Crystal City is fronted by Dave Helmer and Sam Drella. Helmer is a Midwestern singer/songwriter from central Iowa with blue-collar roots. Heavily influenced by Paul Westerberg, Tom Petty, John Prine, and Townes Van Zandt, Helmer’s songs are approachable and relatable, touching on themes of love and loss, being good to each other, and celebrating life...
Mitski Miyawaki has always been wary of being turned a symbol, knowing we’re quick to put women on pedestals and even quicker to knock them down. Nonetheless, after the breakout success of 2016’s Puberty 2, she was hailed as the new vanguard of indie rock..
Peanut Ricky is the solo project of long time local musician Jo Adams. They are joined by an ever alternating cast of backing musicians and long time member Phil Maul a local synth and noise artist. Peanut Ricky & The Fiends can be described as Nick Cave and PJ Harvey’s secret love child. Raised in a cement basement room with only a small TV playing VHS copies of David Lynch films...
Becca Mancari is rewriting the rules. Born in Staten Island, New York, to an Italian-Irish preacher and a Puerto Rican mother, Mancari has lived a life of transition - from working as a janitor in South Florida, to writing songs with train hoppers in the Blue Ridge Mountains...
Mark Guiliana has become recognized as one of the world’s leading drummers, admired and in demand across the spectrum from jazz to rock to electronic music for his rhythmic sophistication, creative impulse, and individual sound. He has been in the vanguard of drummers creating a new vernacular on the instrument...
DRYAD came into being within the wild forests and hidden ice caves of Iowa’s wilderness, a snarling primal force summoned from the darkened depths of the earth to combat our frenzied modern world. Featuring crusty dual vocals and relentless buzzsaw riffs, DRYAD is an anomalous combination of d-beat punk...
Our new album, You’re Dreaming, didn’t happen overnight. It is the culmination of several years of songwriting and the kindness of thousands of miles and friends. A cast of characters, experiences, and personal perspectives set in simple rhymes and sung in harmony to paint a picture in your mind. When my brother and I started making music as The Cactus Blossoms there wasn’t a big plan...
Starting in 2014 as a collaboration between visual artist Heather Gabel and percussionist Seth Sher, the Chicago based industrial duo known simply as HIDE was formed. The following three years have seen HIDE crash through with a number of aggressively rendered singles and EP’s while quietly collecting the shattered pieces that would form their debut full length album, Castration Anxiety...
Kweku Collins is a 21-year old rapper/producer/songwriter from Evanston, IL that has been making music for most of his life. Born into a musical family, Kweku joined his dad on-stage playing African drums at the early age of 4. As a teenager, Kweku transitioned to making his own music...
Good Morning Midnight began spontaneously, like a trip for ice cream or human combustion, when a record store in Iowa became sentient and began immediately devouring itself. The psychedelic folk music was gnashed to bits with every mouthful, the country records ended up smeared in dissonance from a stack of 90’s rock albums...
On her first proper album as Jay Som, Melina Duterte, 22, solidifies her rep as a self-made force of sonic splendor and emotional might. If last year's aptly named Turn Into compilation showcased a fuzz-loving artist in flux -- chronicling her mission to master bedroom recording -- then the rising Oakland star's latest, Everybody Works, is the LP equivalent of mission accomplished...
Over the past decade, M:B has been Mission Creek's official underground dance music party. Continually providing the festival and its attendees with some of the best local and regional talent that the Midwest and Colorado have to offer. Now, in the 10th installment, we're kicking things up a few decibels...
Crystal City is fronted by Dave Helmer and Sam Drella. Helmer is a Midwestern singer/songwriter from central Iowa with blue-collar roots. Heavily influenced by Paul Westerberg, Tom Petty, John Prine, and Townes Van Zandt, Helmer’s songs are approachable and relatable, touching on themes of love and loss, being good to each other, and celebrating life...
Mitski Miyawaki has always been wary of being turned a symbol, knowing we’re quick to put women on pedestals and even quicker to knock them down. Nonetheless, after the breakout success of 2016’s Puberty 2, she was hailed as the new vanguard of indie rock..
Peanut Ricky is the solo project of long time local musician Jo Adams. They are joined by an ever alternating cast of backing musicians and long time member Phil Maul a local synth and noise artist. Peanut Ricky & The Fiends can be described as Nick Cave and PJ Harvey’s secret love child. Raised in a cement basement room with only a small TV playing VHS copies of David Lynch films...
Becca Mancari is rewriting the rules. Born in Staten Island, New York, to an Italian-Irish preacher and a Puerto Rican mother, Mancari has lived a life of transition - from working as a janitor in South Florida, to writing songs with train hoppers in the Blue Ridge Mountains...
Mark Guiliana has become recognized as one of the world’s leading drummers, admired and in demand across the spectrum from jazz to rock to electronic music for his rhythmic sophistication, creative impulse, and individual sound. He has been in the vanguard of drummers creating a new vernacular on the instrument...
DRYAD came into being within the wild forests and hidden ice caves of Iowa’s wilderness, a snarling primal force summoned from the darkened depths of the earth to combat our frenzied modern world. Featuring crusty dual vocals and relentless buzzsaw riffs, DRYAD is an anomalous combination of d-beat punk...
Our new album, You’re Dreaming, didn’t happen overnight. It is the culmination of several years of songwriting and the kindness of thousands of miles and friends. A cast of characters, experiences, and personal perspectives set in simple rhymes and sung in harmony to paint a picture in your mind. When my brother and I started making music as The Cactus Blossoms there wasn’t a big plan...
Kweku Collins is a 21-year old rapper/producer/songwriter from Evanston, IL that has been making music for most of his life. Born into a musical family, Kweku joined his dad on-stage playing African drums at the early age of 4. As a teenager, Kweku transitioned to making his own music...
Starting in 2014 as a collaboration between visual artist Heather Gabel and percussionist Seth Sher, the Chicago based industrial duo known simply as HIDE was formed. The following three years have seen HIDE crash through with a number of aggressively rendered singles and EP’s while quietly collecting the shattered pieces that would form their debut full length album, Castration Anxiety...
The Publishing Reimagined panel highlights independent presses and individuals who are bringing groundbreaking innovations to the presentation of literary work, including novelist Maxwell Neely-Cohen’s visual poetry synthesizer, the text-based objects of Container Press, the vinyl record-only poetry label Fonograf Editions, and Prompt Press, which uses original work from visual artists and writers as a launchpad for creative responses...
The author of a poetic biography of the French avant-garde composer Erik Satie, an essay collection focusing on The Notorious B.I.G. and skateboarding and a poetry collection—This Last Time Will Be the First—that Rain Taxi deemed "immensely fresh and playful...rooted in a childlike antiquity, Jeff Alessandrelli lives in Portland, Oregon...
Round #1 of our annual Friday evening Lit Walk features readings curated by The Iowa Review & Iowa Writers' House, FC2 & Prompt Press, Action Books & Subtitulados Reading Series, and the Iowa Youth Writing Project at a host of downtown locales...
Round #2 of our annual Friday evening Lit Walk features readings curated by Rescue Press & Monsters of Poetry, Make Magazine & Ninth Letter, and Lit Hub & The Rumpus at a host of downtown locales...
The final round of our 2019 Lit Walk features readings hosted by The Believer and the Writers of Color Reading Series at northside favorites Goosetown Cafe and Haba Salon...
The final round of our 2019 Lit Walk features readings hosted by The Believer and the Writers of Color Reading Series at northside favorites Goosetown Cafe and Haba Salon...
The final round of our 2019 Lit Walk features readings hosted by The Believer and the Writers of Color Reading Series at northside favorites Goosetown Cafe and Haba Salon...
Over the past decade, M:B has been Mission Creek's official underground dance music party. Continually providing the festival and its attendees with some of the best local and regional talent that the Midwest and Colorado have to offer. Now, in the 10th installment, we're kicking things up a few decibels...
Kevin Young is the Director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, newly named a National Historic Landmark, and Poetry Editor of the New Yorker. He is the author of thirteen books of poetry and prose, most recently Brown...
Jaimie Branch is our MCF 2019 Artist-in-Residence, a weeklong residency during Mission Creek Festival where artists are invited to spend five days recording new creative work at Iowa City's Flat Black Studios. Jaimie Branch is a Brooklyn-based trumpeter working in the areas of improvisation and composition. In her practice, Branch is particularly interested in extending and expanding the technical limitations of the trumpet...
It’s only hearsay, but Dana Telsrow is the bandleader for a late-night talk show that films in an alternate universe Studio 54. Carl Sagan is a guest every night. Catering is mostly dragonfruit. It’s all very casual, yet very intense...
Mark Guiliana has become recognized as one of the world’s leading drummers, admired and in demand across the spectrum from jazz to rock to electronic music for his rhythmic sophistication, creative impulse, and individual sound. Now, Guiliana is unveiling his latest group, Mark Guiliana SPACE HEROES, featuring the “two horn” front line of saxophonists Jason Rigby and Mike Lewis, and bassist Chris Morrissey...
After kicking around in other bands for years, Amanda Crosby, Sarah Mannix, and Rachel Sauter formed Younger in 2014 as an experiment. What could happen if songs were written as a complete collaboration? Their original aim was to geek out about weird song structures and challenging harmonic intervals without being a real band at all. Inspired by their excellent public school music education and deep love of art rock...
Analog synthesizers give tangible life to the works of Guerilla Toss. Whether it be the sound of a rocket ship, a kitten-with-a-wah, distorted dolphins, or a clavichord made out of honey-baked ham, the band consistently finds new ways to bring together the many ideas that combine to shape each new batch of art-rock puzzle pieces...
Jaimie Branch is our MCF 2019 Artist-in-Residence, a weeklong residency during Mission Creek Festival where artists are invited to spend five days recording new creative work at Iowa City's Flat Black Studios. Jaimie Branch is a Brooklyn-based trumpeter working in the areas of improvisation and composition. In her practice, Branch is particularly interested in extending and expanding the technical limitations of the trumpet...
It’s only hearsay, but Dana Telsrow is the bandleader for a late-night talk show that films in an alternate universe Studio 54. Carl Sagan is a guest every night. Catering is mostly dragonfruit. It’s all very casual, yet very intense...
Mark Guiliana has become recognized as one of the world’s leading drummers, admired and in demand across the spectrum from jazz to rock to electronic music for his rhythmic sophistication, creative impulse, and individual sound. Now, Guiliana is unveiling his latest group, Mark Guiliana SPACE HEROES, featuring the “two horn” front line of saxophonists Jason Rigby and Mike Lewis, and bassist Chris Morrissey...
After kicking around in other bands for years, Amanda Crosby, Sarah Mannix, and Rachel Sauter formed Younger in 2014 as an experiment. What could happen if songs were written as a complete collaboration? Their original aim was to geek out about weird song structures and challenging harmonic intervals without being a real band at all. Inspired by their excellent public school music education and deep love of art rock...
Analog synthesizers give tangible life to the works of Guerilla Toss. Whether it be the sound of a rocket ship, a kitten-with-a-wah, distorted dolphins, or a clavichord made out of honey-baked ham, the band consistently finds new ways to bring together the many ideas that combine to shape each new batch of art-rock puzzle pieces...
Kevin Young is the Director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, newly named a National Historic Landmark, and Poetry Editor of the New Yorker. He is the author of thirteen books of poetry and prose, most recently Brown...
Kevin Young is the Director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, newly named a National Historic Landmark, and Poetry Editor of the New Yorker. He is the author of thirteen books of poetry and prose, most recently Brown...
ft. Gabriel Houck, Jennifer Cheng, & Lawrence Ypil
Gabriel Houck, Jennifer S. Cheng, and Lawrence Ypil —all alumni of the University of Iowa's Nonfiction Writing Program—read stories, poems, and essays from their recent books...
Groovy. Intimate. Loungey. And of course, neighborly. These are the words Pink Neighbor embodies in sound and vibe. Based in Grinnell, Iowa, multi-instrumentalists Katie In and Erik Jarvis have worked patiently on their songwriting crafts since their teenage years. The deft and diverse output of Pink Neighbor makes this apparent, as they draw from the American Songbook, vintage global-psychedelia...
Hailed as "the best currently active rock band in Iowa" by the Iowa Informer, indie rock outfit Halfloves offers a variety of songs on their self-titled debut album made with renowned producer Brandon Darner (Imagine Dragons, The Envy Corps). Halfloves mixes pop sensibilities with heady textures and space to create an emotionally charged sound...
Born out of fierce friendship and a mutual affection for melody, Chicago’s Ratboys – anchored by the partnership of Julia Steiner and Dave Sagan – aim to ‘write songs that tell stories and honor the intimacy of memory,’ according to Steiner...
Chef PZ (Sepehr Sadrzadeh) and The Cubist (Tyrell Thornton) first collaborated in 2015, when Sadrzadeh was the executive chef of Pullman Bar & Diner and Thornton was producing music in the Hall Mall in downtown Iowa City. The two artists quickly formed an alliance after their first studio session together, which created the format for their "off the cuff" freestyle studio sessions...
Groovy. Intimate. Loungey. And of course, neighborly. These are the words Pink Neighbor embodies in sound and vibe. Based in Grinnell, Iowa, multi-instrumentalists Katie In and Erik Jarvis have worked patiently on their songwriting crafts since their teenage years. The deft and diverse output of Pink Neighbor makes this apparent, as they draw from the American Songbook, vintage global-psychedelia...
Hailed as "the best currently active rock band in Iowa" by the Iowa Informer, indie rock outfit Halfloves offers a variety of songs on their self-titled debut album made with renowned producer Brandon Darner (Imagine Dragons, The Envy Corps). Halfloves mixes pop sensibilities with heady textures and space to create an emotionally charged sound...
Born out of fierce friendship and a mutual affection for melody, Chicago’s Ratboys – anchored by the partnership of Julia Steiner and Dave Sagan – aim to ‘write songs that tell stories and honor the intimacy of memory,’ according to Steiner...
Chef PZ (Sepehr Sadrzadeh) and The Cubist (Tyrell Thornton) first collaborated in 2015, when Sadrzadeh was the executive chef of Pullman Bar & Diner and Thornton was producing music in the Hall Mall in downtown Iowa City. The two artists quickly formed an alliance after their first studio session together, which created the format for their "off the cuff" freestyle studio sessions...
ft. Gabriel Houck, Jennifer Cheng, & Lawrence Ypil
Gabriel Houck, Jennifer S. Cheng, and Lawrence Ypil —all alumni of the University of Iowa's Nonfiction Writing Program—read stories, poems, and essays from their recent books...
Join us at Northside Iowa City's quaint Goosetown Café for a Mission Creek Festival 2019 Kick-off Party! Enjoy a delicious buffet, beverages, and quality time with Mission Creek staff and fellow festivalgoers. Who knows, you might meet your new festival buddy...
R.O. Kwon is the author of The Incendiaries, published by Riverhead (U.S.) and Virago (U.K.). The Incendiaries was an American Booksellers Association Indie Next #1 Great Read and Indies Introduce selection, and it is being translated into four languages...
Raised in Louisville, Kentucky identical twin sisters, Chandra and Leigh Watson, have always blended musical genres to tell their story. The twins moved to the thriving music scene of Silver Lake, Los Angeles in the early 2000’s where their sound “developed a style of sweet, soulful indie-folk...
One of the most celebrated and respected performers of her generation, Jenny Lewis got her start as the dynamic frontwoman of influential LA group Rilo Kiley in 1998. She has since released three albums under her name, most recently 2014’s The Voyager...
Black Stork, solo project of the Spanish composer and performer Carlos Cotallo Solares, combines elements of metal, math rock, and hardcore punk and reinterprets them through the acoustic guitar...
Noura Mint Seymali is a nationally beloved star and one of Mauritania’s foremost musical emissaries. Born into a prominent line of Moorish griot (West African praise singers, poets and musicians) Noura began her career at age 13 as a supporting vocalist with her step-mother, the legendary Dimi Mint Abba...
Raised in Louisville, Kentucky identical twin sisters, Chandra and Leigh Watson, have always blended musical genres to tell their story. The twins moved to the thriving music scene of Silver Lake, Los Angeles in the early 2000’s where their sound “developed a style of sweet, soulful indie-folk...
One of the most celebrated and respected performers of her generation, Jenny Lewis got her start as the dynamic frontwoman of influential LA group Rilo Kiley in 1998. She has since released three albums under her name, most recently 2014’s The Voyager...
Black Stork, solo project of the Spanish composer and performer Carlos Cotallo Solares, combines elements of metal, math rock, and hardcore punk and reinterprets them through the acoustic guitar...
Noura Mint Seymali is a nationally beloved star and one of Mauritania’s foremost musical emissaries. Born into a prominent line of Moorish griot (West African praise singers, poets and musicians) Noura began her career at age 13 as a supporting vocalist with her step-mother, the legendary Dimi Mint Abba...
R.O. Kwon is the author of The Incendiaries, published by Riverhead (U.S.) and Virago (U.K.). The Incendiaries was an American Booksellers Association Indie Next #1 Great Read and Indies Introduce selection, and it is being translated into four languages...
Join us at Northside Iowa City's quaint Goosetown Café for a Mission Creek Festival 2019 Kick-off Party! Enjoy a delicious buffet, beverages, and quality time with Mission Creek staff and fellow festivalgoers. Who knows, you might meet your new festival buddy...
R.O. Kwon is the author of The Incendiaries, published by Riverhead (U.S.) and Virago (U.K.). The Incendiaries was an American Booksellers Association Indie Next #1 Great Read and Indies Introduce selection, and it is being translated into four languages...
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, Hurray 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 Daytrotter...
The replay of John Moreland’s network television debut is…glorious and affirming and a sucker punch. He is announced by Stephen Colbert, lights dissolve, and the camera slowly focuses on the person midway across the unadorned stage, revealing him beneath muted blue lights. He is a big man. Seated, alone, cradling his acoustic guitar...
The Blake Shaw BIG(ish) Band is an action packed, fun ensuing, dream band lead by bassist/vocalist Blake Shaw of Iowa City. Shaw writes and arranges all the music using the Duke Ellington model of exploiting all his friends’ talents and strengths on their instruments. The show contains many burning solos, grooves for days, and plenty […]
Literary magazines and independent publishers from across the country, and right here in Iowa City, will set up shop at The Mill in Iowa City for the 9th year in a row, representing some of the most exciting work in publishing today. Lineup includes: The Believer, The Iowa Review, Container Press, Two Dollar Radio, and more...
Join us for the Iowa City Expo for Comics and Real Eclectic Media (ICE CREAM) fair presenting the work of cartoonists, zinesters, and art books / handmade book artists. Vendors TBA...
Ari Braverman is a fiction writer from Iowa City by way of New Orleans and New York. Her work has appeared in BOMB, Guernica, Smokelong Quarterly, and at Tammy Journal. She was shortlisted for the 2017 White Review Short Story Prize. Her debut novel, The Ballad of Big Feeling, will be out later this year from Melville House...
Michael Martone's recent books are The Moon Over Wapakoneta, Brooding, Winesburg, Indiana, Four for a Quarter, Not Normal, Illinois: Peculiar Fiction from the Flyover, Racing in Place: Collages, Fragments, Postcards, Ruins, a collection of essays...
While the Big Free Show takes over the Big Grove stage, record vendors from across Iowa will gather at the Vinyl Market! Vendors include: Bog's Vinyl, The Record Collector...
Our friends at Big Grove Brewery are once again opening their doors and taps to us at the Big Free Show at Big Grove curated by Mission Creek Festival. Becca Mancari is rewriting the rules. Flash in a Pan is an Iowa City string band thats blends contemporary music with traditional folk and grass motifs. Their original compositions combine elements of reggae, country, folk and grass forms to produce tunes with a modern sensibility and respect for tradition...
Poet Hai-Dang Phan joins novelist Mesha Maren in our Debut Showcase Reading where both authors read from their first books. Hai-Dang Phan was born in Vietnam in 1980 and grew up in Wisconsin. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, Poetry, Best American Poetry 2016, and the chapbook, Small Wars. He is the recipient of an NEA Literature Fellowship, the Frederick Bock Prize from Poetry, and the...
Novelist Mesha Maren joins poet Hai-Dang Phan in our Debut Showcase Reading where both authors read from their first books. Mesha Maren is the author of Sugar Run (Algonquin Books, January 2019). Her short stories and essays have appeared in Tin House, Oxford American, Crazyhorse, Southern Cultures, Hobart, Forty Stories: New Writing from Harper Perennial, and elsewhere. She is the recipient of...
Hailing from Northern Michigan, Jonathan Timm built a solid foundation in the Michigan folk scene, leading the songwriting efforts of Blackwater Valley Songs, Birches and The Jeremies and releasing 4 albums before making his move to Nashville in 2011. Once there, his longtime interest in classic country flourished, and he began crafting heart-rending songs under his own name...
Sabrina Orah Mark is the author of the poetry collections The Babies and Tsim Tsum. Wild Milk is her first book of fiction. She lives in Athens, Georgia with her...
Born in Maywood and raised in Peoria, Illinois, Brandon Alexander Williams is a poet, MC and DJ. He is the most recent recipient of the Grant Wood Fellowship and is a visiting instructor at the University of Iowa’s School of Music where he teaches courses in Hip-Hop. Williams is an alumnus of Southern Illinois University-Carbondale...
ft. Maxwell Neely-Cohen, Stephanie Burt, Sabrina Orah Mark, & Brandon Alexander Williams
As a 2018 Resident Artist at CultureHub, Maxwell Neely-Cohen created a prototype for a space that would visually respond to the live reading of poetry and prose. He brings the latest iteration of this software to Mission Creek, where poets of all stripes will explore the possibilities of technology and poetry in a must-see reading...
with Stephanie Burt, Brandon Alexander Williams, & more
Our friends at Big Grove Brewery are once again opening their doors and taps to us at the Big Free Show at Big Grove curated by Mission Creek Festival. Mercy Bell is a “distinct voice with a potent, progressive take on emotive, modern folk” according to Rolling Stone. She comes from Nashville by way of Brooklyn, Massachusetts, California, and Arkansas...
Stephanie (also Stephen and Steph) Burt is the author of three poetry collections, Belmont, Parallel Play, and Popular Music, and several collections of critical works. Her essay collection Close Calls with Nonsense was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Her other works include...
Our friends at Big Grove Brewery are once again opening their doors and taps to us at the Big Free Show at Big Grove curated by Mission Creek Festival. Becca Mancari is rewriting the rules. Born in Staten Island, New York, to an Italian-Irish preacher and a Puerto Rican mother, Mancari has lived a life of transition - from working as a janitor in South Florida, to writing songs with train hoppers in the Blue Ridge Mountains...
Jericho Brown is the recipient of a Whiting Writers’ Award and fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Brown’s first book, Please (New Issues 2008), won the...
Our friends at Big Grove Brewery are once again opening their doors and taps to us at the Big Free Show at Big Grove curated by Mission Creek Festival. Middle Western was formed out of a long friendship and discussions the various members had while playing on each others' recordings and the occasional band show organized as a way to play and sing songs written and recorded by other members. The band is made up of singer/songwriter and Anti Records artist William Elliot Whitmore...
Tameka Cage Conley, PhD is a graduate of The Iowa Writers’ Workshop. She currently holds the Provost Postgraduate Visiting Writer Fellowship in fiction and teaches advanced fiction writing at the University of Iowa. As a literary artist, she writes fiction, poetry, plays, librettos and essays...
Glory Edim is the founder of Well-Read Black Girl, a Brooklyn-based book club and online community that celebrates the uniqueness of Black literature and sisterhood. In fall 2017, she organized the first-ever Well-Read Black Girl Literary Festival. She has worked as a creative strategist for over ten years at startups and cultural institutions, including Kickstarter, The Webby Awards and the New York Foundation for the Arts. She received...
Nadalands, the solo songwriting project of Fort Collins, Colorado's John Lindenbaum (The Lonelyhearts, Rust Belt Music), has recorded 12 EPs and a full-length LP since the year 2000. Eager to transition from solo shows to more dynamic live performances, Lindenbaum recruited drummer Benjamin Buttice (Sour Boy, Bitter Girl) and bassist Matt Schild...
Our friends at Big Grove Brewery are once again opening their doors and taps to us at the Big Free Show at Big Grove curated by Mission Creek Festival. Lilly Hiatt returned with Trinity Lane on August 25th, 2017. The 12-song set was produced by Michael Trent of Shovels & Rope and engineered by Andy Dixon at Trent’s Studio Bees in Johns Island, SC...
With a sultry and intoxicating voice, local artist Elizabeth Moen lures you in. Paired with introspective lyrics that echo both bitter and sweet, her music will captivate you then stay with you. “Moen is one of those rare artists whose voice, from the first moment you hear it, consumes your entire being...
Born of Greek heritage, Ioannis Alexakis started playing music after hearing the first 15-seconds of a Prince song at a young age. He does his best to keep the sounds open-ended, but also maintains the Guthrie ideals in songwriting. He has performed with numerous national acts with Iowa City Hip-Hop collective The AWTHNTKTS and is eager to keep releasing music for a long time...
Pete Dominick, comedian and host of Sirius XM's Stand Up!, will lead a showcase of Chicago and Iowa City-based standup comics, featuring: Arish Singh, Jessica Hong, Alex Kumin, and more...
Pete Dominick, comedian and host of Sirius XM's Stand Up!, will lead a showcase of Chicago and Iowa City-based standup comics, featuring: Arish Singh, Jessica Hong, Alex Kumin, and more...
Pete Dominick, comedian and host of Sirius XM's Stand Up!, will lead a showcase of Chicago and Iowa City-based standup comics, featuring: Arish Singh, Jessica Hong, Alex Kumin, and more...
Pete Dominick, comedian and host of Sirius XM's Stand Up!, will lead a showcase of Chicago and Iowa City-based standup comics, featuring: Arish Singh, Jessica Hong, Alex Kumin, and more...
It had been a successful, if tumultuous, ride for Alynda Segarra, who's been spreading a new kind of roots-conscious folk music across the country from her adopted hometown of New Orleans. But as far as the Bronx native had come with her band, Hurray for the Riff Raff, there was still a missing link to her story...
Tennyson’s talent has always been undeniable, even if he’s still discovering himself. Born Luke Pretty, his creative mind first bloomed in the basement of his parent’s home in Edmonton, Canada. His younger sister Tess has long been his partner, learning to play drums alongside his work on the key. The siblings cut their teeth on […]
For Mock Identity, the sum is both greater than, and equal to, its parts. Comprised of some of the DC experimental music scene's most innovative and forward-thinking musicians - vocalist Adriana-Lucia Cotes (Antonia), guitarist Jeff Barsky (Insect Factory), bassist Joshua David Hoffman (Supersonic Piss), and percussionist Nate Scheible - this post-hardcore quartet is a force of musical resistance that sounds miles away from the musical worlds of avant-pop, free jazz, and ambient drone its members come from...
Makaya McCraven is a beat scientist. The cutting edge drummer, producer, and sonic collagist is a multi-talented force whose inventive process & intuitive style of performance defy categorization. Called “a sound visionary”...
Moor Mother is the viscerally charged output of Philadelphia based interdisciplinary artist, Camae Ayewa. "Moor Mother might be the most radical – even the most useful – Afrofuturist artist to emerge for years. Fetish Bones works not just as an atlas and an archive but as a mausoleum, housing the bones of those who have fallen along a bloody trail stretching all the way back to 1886" — WIR...
If you haven’t panicked lately, you’re either blissfully ignorant or have gone completely clear. For the rest of us attempting to navigate the political, economical, and cultural carnage, Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” succinctly captures the statue of psychic dislocation...
The Publishing Reimagined panel highlights independent presses and individuals who are bringing groundbreaking innovations to the presentation of literary work, including novelist Maxwell Neely-Cohen’s visual poetry synthesizer, the text-based objects of Container Press, the vinyl record-only poetry label Fonograf Editions, and Prompt Press, which uses original work from visual artists and writers as a launchpad for creative responses...
The author of a poetic biography of the French avant-garde composer Erik Satie, an essay collection focusing on The Notorious B.I.G. and skateboarding and a poetry collection—This Last Time Will Be the First—that Rain Taxi deemed "immensely fresh and playful...rooted in a childlike antiquity, Jeff Alessandrelli lives in Portland, Oregon...
Round #1 of our annual Friday evening Lit Walk features readings curated by The Iowa Review & Iowa Writers' House, FC2 & Prompt Press, Action Books & Subtitulados Reading Series, and the Iowa Youth Writing Project at a host of downtown locales...
Round #2 of our annual Friday evening Lit Walk features readings curated by Rescue Press & Monsters of Poetry, Make Magazine & Ninth Letter, and Lit Hub & The Rumpus at a host of downtown locales...
The final round of our 2019 Lit Walk features readings hosted by The Believer and the Writers of Color Reading Series at northside favorites Goosetown Cafe and Haba Salon...
Good Morning Midnight began spontaneously, like a trip for ice cream or human combustion, when a record store in Iowa became sentient and began immediately devouring itself. The psychedelic folk music was gnashed to bits with every mouthful, the country records ended up smeared in dissonance from a stack of 90’s rock albums...
The final round of our 2019 Lit Walk features readings hosted by The Believer and the Writers of Color Reading Series at northside favorites Goosetown Cafe and Haba Salon...
Over the past decade, M:B has been Mission Creek's official underground dance music party. Continually providing the festival and its attendees with some of the best local and regional talent that the Midwest and Colorado have to offer. Now, in the 10th installment, we're kicking things up a few decibels...
On her first proper album as Jay Som, Melina Duterte, 22, solidifies her rep as a self-made force of sonic splendor and emotional might. If last year's aptly named Turn Into compilation showcased a fuzz-loving artist in flux -- chronicling her mission to master bedroom recording -- then the rising Oakland star's latest, Everybody Works, is the LP equivalent of mission accomplished...
Crystal City is fronted by Dave Helmer and Sam Drella. Helmer is a Midwestern singer/songwriter from central Iowa with blue-collar roots. Heavily influenced by Paul Westerberg, Tom Petty, John Prine, and Townes Van Zandt, Helmer’s songs are approachable and relatable, touching on themes of love and loss, being good to each other, and celebrating life...
Mitski Miyawaki has always been wary of being turned a symbol, knowing we’re quick to put women on pedestals and even quicker to knock them down. Nonetheless, after the breakout success of 2016’s Puberty 2, she was hailed as the new vanguard of indie rock..
Peanut Ricky is the solo project of long time local musician Jo Adams. They are joined by an ever alternating cast of backing musicians and long time member Phil Maul a local synth and noise artist. Peanut Ricky & The Fiends can be described as Nick Cave and PJ Harvey’s secret love child. Raised in a cement basement room with only a small TV playing VHS copies of David Lynch films...
Becca Mancari is rewriting the rules. Born in Staten Island, New York, to an Italian-Irish preacher and a Puerto Rican mother, Mancari has lived a life of transition - from working as a janitor in South Florida, to writing songs with train hoppers in the Blue Ridge Mountains...
Mark Guiliana has become recognized as one of the world’s leading drummers, admired and in demand across the spectrum from jazz to rock to electronic music for his rhythmic sophistication, creative impulse, and individual sound. He has been in the vanguard of drummers creating a new vernacular on the instrument...
DRYAD came into being within the wild forests and hidden ice caves of Iowa’s wilderness, a snarling primal force summoned from the darkened depths of the earth to combat our frenzied modern world. Featuring crusty dual vocals and relentless buzzsaw riffs, DRYAD is an anomalous combination of d-beat punk...
Our new album, You’re Dreaming, didn’t happen overnight. It is the culmination of several years of songwriting and the kindness of thousands of miles and friends. A cast of characters, experiences, and personal perspectives set in simple rhymes and sung in harmony to paint a picture in your mind. When my brother and I started making music as The Cactus Blossoms there wasn’t a big plan...
Starting in 2014 as a collaboration between visual artist Heather Gabel and percussionist Seth Sher, the Chicago based industrial duo known simply as HIDE was formed. The following three years have seen HIDE crash through with a number of aggressively rendered singles and EP’s while quietly collecting the shattered pieces that would form their debut full length album, Castration Anxiety...
Kweku Collins is a 21-year old rapper/producer/songwriter from Evanston, IL that has been making music for most of his life. Born into a musical family, Kweku joined his dad on-stage playing African drums at the early age of 4. As a teenager, Kweku transitioned to making his own music...
Kevin Young is the Director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, newly named a National Historic Landmark, and Poetry Editor of the New Yorker. He is the author of thirteen books of poetry and prose, most recently Brown...
Jaimie Branch is our MCF 2019 Artist-in-Residence, a weeklong residency during Mission Creek Festival where artists are invited to spend five days recording new creative work at Iowa City's Flat Black Studios. Jaimie Branch is a Brooklyn-based trumpeter working in the areas of improvisation and composition. In her practice, Branch is particularly interested in extending and expanding the technical limitations of the trumpet...
It’s only hearsay, but Dana Telsrow is the bandleader for a late-night talk show that films in an alternate universe Studio 54. Carl Sagan is a guest every night. Catering is mostly dragonfruit. It’s all very casual, yet very intense...
Mark Guiliana has become recognized as one of the world’s leading drummers, admired and in demand across the spectrum from jazz to rock to electronic music for his rhythmic sophistication, creative impulse, and individual sound. Now, Guiliana is unveiling his latest group, Mark Guiliana SPACE HEROES, featuring the “two horn” front line of saxophonists Jason Rigby and Mike Lewis, and bassist Chris Morrissey...
After kicking around in other bands for years, Amanda Crosby, Sarah Mannix, and Rachel Sauter formed Younger in 2014 as an experiment. What could happen if songs were written as a complete collaboration? Their original aim was to geek out about weird song structures and challenging harmonic intervals without being a real band at all. Inspired by their excellent public school music education and deep love of art rock...
Analog synthesizers give tangible life to the works of Guerilla Toss. Whether it be the sound of a rocket ship, a kitten-with-a-wah, distorted dolphins, or a clavichord made out of honey-baked ham, the band consistently finds new ways to bring together the many ideas that combine to shape each new batch of art-rock puzzle pieces...
ft. Gabriel Houck, Jennifer Cheng, & Lawrence Ypil
Gabriel Houck, Jennifer S. Cheng, and Lawrence Ypil —all alumni of the University of Iowa's Nonfiction Writing Program—read stories, poems, and essays from their recent books...
Groovy. Intimate. Loungey. And of course, neighborly. These are the words Pink Neighbor embodies in sound and vibe. Based in Grinnell, Iowa, multi-instrumentalists Katie In and Erik Jarvis have worked patiently on their songwriting crafts since their teenage years. The deft and diverse output of Pink Neighbor makes this apparent, as they draw from the American Songbook, vintage global-psychedelia...
Hailed as "the best currently active rock band in Iowa" by the Iowa Informer, indie rock outfit Halfloves offers a variety of songs on their self-titled debut album made with renowned producer Brandon Darner (Imagine Dragons, The Envy Corps). Halfloves mixes pop sensibilities with heady textures and space to create an emotionally charged sound...
Born out of fierce friendship and a mutual affection for melody, Chicago’s Ratboys – anchored by the partnership of Julia Steiner and Dave Sagan – aim to ‘write songs that tell stories and honor the intimacy of memory,’ according to Steiner...
Chef PZ (Sepehr Sadrzadeh) and The Cubist (Tyrell Thornton) first collaborated in 2015, when Sadrzadeh was the executive chef of Pullman Bar & Diner and Thornton was producing music in the Hall Mall in downtown Iowa City. The two artists quickly formed an alliance after their first studio session together, which created the format for their "off the cuff" freestyle studio sessions...
Join us at Northside Iowa City's quaint Goosetown Café for a Mission Creek Festival 2019 Kick-off Party! Enjoy a delicious buffet, beverages, and quality time with Mission Creek staff and fellow festivalgoers. Who knows, you might meet your new festival buddy...
R.O. Kwon is the author of The Incendiaries, published by Riverhead (U.S.) and Virago (U.K.). The Incendiaries was an American Booksellers Association Indie Next #1 Great Read and Indies Introduce selection, and it is being translated into four languages...
Raised in Louisville, Kentucky identical twin sisters, Chandra and Leigh Watson, have always blended musical genres to tell their story. The twins moved to the thriving music scene of Silver Lake, Los Angeles in the early 2000’s where their sound “developed a style of sweet, soulful indie-folk...
One of the most celebrated and respected performers of her generation, Jenny Lewis got her start as the dynamic frontwoman of influential LA group Rilo Kiley in 1998. She has since released three albums under her name, most recently 2014’s The Voyager...
Black Stork, solo project of the Spanish composer and performer Carlos Cotallo Solares, combines elements of metal, math rock, and hardcore punk and reinterprets them through the acoustic guitar...
Noura Mint Seymali is a nationally beloved star and one of Mauritania’s foremost musical emissaries. Born into a prominent line of Moorish griot (West African praise singers, poets and musicians) Noura began her career at age 13 as a supporting vocalist with her step-mother, the legendary Dimi Mint Abba...
Ancient Posse patch their singular vision together from two very different backgrounds. In one corner, there's Bergeron’s formative years occupied by listening to all the Thom Yorke, romantic composers, and IDM glitchiness he could fit between home school lessons and the countless hours of classical...
Cristalle Bowen, professionally known as Psalm One, has been consistently named one of the nation's Best Artists by the Chicago Tribune, and in 2011 made her national television debut on MTV's Emmy-winning series, MADE. She released her debut album, "Bio:Chemistry", while studying chemistry at the University of Illinois in 2002...
Jamila Woods’ cultural lineage–from her love of Lucille Clifton’s poetry to cherished letters from her grandmother to the infectious late 80s post-punk of The Cure–structure the progressive, delicate and minimalist soul of HEAVN, her debut solo album. “It’s like a collage process,” she says...
ALT (Art + Life + Tech) returns to Iowa City this spring, with events happening throughout the day on Saturday, April 7. ALT explores intersections between technology, art, and our lives through keynote talks, workshops, and panel discussions. We seek to inspire and build community creativity empowered...
Literary magazines and independent publishers from across the country, and right here in Iowa City, will set up shop at The Mill in Iowa City for the 8th year in a row, representing some of the most exciting work in publishing today; including: Lambda Literary, VIDA, Kundiman, Iowa Youth...
Join us for the Iowa City Expo for Comics and Real Eclectic Media (ICE CREAM) fair presenting the work of cartoonists, zinesters, and art books / handmade book artists.
Tickling Giants tells the story of Dr. Bassem Youssef, the "Egyptian Jon Stewart", who decides to leave his job as a heart surgeon and become a late-night comedian. The movie is about how he finds creative, non-violent ways to protect free speech...
Nabila Lovelace is a born and raised Queens native, as well as a first generation American. Her parents hail from Trinidad and Tobago and Nigeria. She currently resides in Tuscaloosa, AL. Her first collection, Sons of Achilles, is forthcoming from YesYes Books in 2018. Nabila is a 2016 Poetry Witch Magazine...
Our friends at Big Grove Brewery are once again opening their doors and taps to us with a free show curated by Mission Creek Festival! Featuring: Nadalands with Alexis Stevens, Josefina, Eric Pettit Lion, Ryan Joseph Anderson, Public Access, Annalibera, and Tristen...
Nadalands is the solo songwriting project of John Lindenbaum (The Lonelyhearts, Rust Belt Music). Based in Fort Collins, Colorado, this project has released 11 EPs and one LP since 2000. This Mission Creek Festival performance will feature Alexis Stevens on guest vocals...
Join us for another installment of the Writers of Color Reading Series, presenting undergraduate and graduate writing students from the University of Iowa. Curated by Kundiman.
Josefina is a singer-songwriter based in Chicago, originally from Buenos Aires. Her lush vocal stylings pair with alt-country production chock full of piano, B-Bender, Pedal Steel, and 12-string that would have found an easy home on Asylum Records circa 1970s. But this isn’t a throwback to Joni or Emmylou. This is a modern girl making modern music with a scant twang and an infectious lightness of being...
LaTanya McQueen is a writer of both fiction and nonfiction and is the current Robert P. Dana Emerging Writer Fellow at Cornell College. McQueen’s work has been featured in Carve Magazine, The Florida Review, Nimrod, Black Warrior Review and more. While earning...
Like the gritty Mississippi River they reside by, Eric Pettit Lion can't stop. And won't stop. Which is what happens when a band fine tunes a sound and hits their stride. EP Lion has morphed into a mainstay in the Iowa music scene. It's pretty amazing these guys are able to hold down day jobs. The original family duo of Pettit and Tim Buhmeyer are still at the helm. Alongside them now are Ed Mansheim and Micah Oleson...
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 Daytrotter and Songpickr and were featured in Paste and Magnet. American Songwriter said...
Public Access is an instrumental band based throughout the midwest. Headquartered in Grand Rapids with outposts in Chicago, Milwaukee, Traverse City, and Marquette, Public Access boasts a variety of musicians. Public Access draws its inspiration from the searing guitars of Brian May and David Gilmour to the sultry sax tones of Paul Desmond, and all the way to the rhythm of Four Tet and the synth of Daft Punk...
BStar has spent the past five years crafting an immersive sound composed of complex, mathy, stop-on-a-dime parts arranged within catchy, atmospheric grooves that fit in right alongside their best post-rock influences. Yet, they exist on their own plane, somewhere between the aggressive...
Annalibera is a music project based in the Midwest. In 2014 they released Nevermind I Love You on Sump Pump Records and loveil, a video/music work released on Night People...
Co-presented by Hancher. Bassem Youssef, dubbed the Jon Stewart of the Arab World, was a practicing cardiothoracic surgeon when he became the creator and host of popular TV show Al-Bernameg –the first political satire show in the Middle East. Originally a 5-minute show shot from Youssef’s laundry room...
Pop savant, Tristen, a mononymous singer-songwriter, musician, and beloved member of Nashville's underground scene, is known for her "knack for penning an infectious hook" (Entertainment Weekly). She has released three albums to critical acclaim: Charlatans at the Garden Gate (2011)...
After retiring his project Dirty Beaches, Zhang has been focusing on explorations of improvised music, Free Jazz, and his new role as a composer. His newer compositions
predominantly works with saxophone, synthesizers, percussion and piano, furthering his...
Throughout history, human beings have relied on rituals—personal, religious, professional, social, creative, and otherwise. It’s these rites that establish a modicum of control and cohesion over a world that often seems far removed from both. When swimming through tragedy, turmoil, and tumult...
Karen Meat is a pop rock project of Arin Eaton based between Des Moines and Iowa City. The band itself is a moody character, a sequined oversized sweater, crooning melodies and lyrics of a bored generation. She’s Drunk Like The Rest Of Us, Karen Meat’s recent November 2016...
Squirrel Flower is Boston, MA and Grinnell, IA based, Ella Williams' solo project. Her sparse arrangements and heavy coats of reverb offer a depth to her soundscape reaching far back as the rolling hill horizons of the Iowa prairie. The harmonies flowering her arrangements are close and yank...
(MOVED TO GABE'S) Twenty years on from first signing to Warner Bros. Records, Built To Spill is set to return in 2015 with its eighth studio album, Untethered Moon. That’s now two complete decades that one of America’s leading “indie rock” bands has happily made its home on a major label
Sarah Tiana is a stand-up comedian and writer living in Los Angeles and headlining at comedy clubs across the country. An avid sports fan, she often writes for the ESPY Awards, helps put together Rob Riggle’s NFL segments on FOX...
(MOVED TO THE ENGLERT) Julien Baker's solo debut, Sprained Ankle, was one of the most widely acclaimed works of 2015. The album, recorded by an 18-year-old and her friend in only a few days, was a bleak yet hopeful, intimate document of staggering experiences and grace, centered entirely...
Feel Free encompasses a variety of creative musical expressions created by Shawn Reed and Derek Maxwell from their base in the Twin Cities. With deep histories in Underground music Reed and Maxwell both relocated to the Twin Cities...
2136 in MERF (Medical Education Research Facility)
Sandra Allen is the author of A Kind of Mirraculas Paradise: A True Story About Schizophrenia. A graduate of the University of Iowa's Nonfiction Writing Program ('12), she was formerly a features editor for BuzzFeed, and ran the online literary quarterly Wag's Revue.
Editors from small publishing houses including Sarabande Books, YesYes Books, Canarium Books, Nomadic Press, and the University of Iowa Press discuss the ins and outs of indie publishing. Q&A to follow.
Our annual Lit Walk series will present readings with Mission Creek Festival 2018 writers in retailers and venues around downtown Iowa City. Participating authors TBA. Enter the Litscape, our curated literary programming presented on Friday and Saturday. Featuring readings in retailers and...
Our annual Lit Walk series will present readings with Mission Creek Festival 2018 writers in retailers and venues around downtown Iowa City. Participating authors TBA. Enter the Litscape, our curated literary programming presented on Friday and Saturday. Featuring readings in retailers and...
Co-presented with SCOPE Productions. An indie duo from Rock Island, IL, Sister Wife has played their music from coast to coast and is gaining traction in the indie music community. With hints of rock, soul, funk, jazz, folk, and pop theres a lil something for almost any musical taste.
Our annual Lit Walk series will present readings with Mission Creek Festival 2018 writers in retailers and venues around downtown Iowa City. Participating authors TBA. Enter the Litscape, our curated literary programming presented on Friday and Saturday. Featuring readings in retailers and...
Co-presented with SCOPE Productions. Emotions and Math is not simply the name of Margaret Glaspy’s new debut album. That expression drills right to the heart of the New York singer-songwriter’s proper introduction, a mission statement both artistic and personal. On its surface, the title track talks about being...
Extravision is an intentionally malleable music project. You may see Ryan Stier performing meditational 12-string dronefolk songs in DIY spaces such as living rooms, sanctuaries, candlelit magic stone shops, and art galleries. The project will appear at Mission Creek in its originally conceived form–psychrock...
Sinner Frenz are Luke Tweedy and Brendan Lee Spengler, who previously played together in the underground supergroup ft(The Shadow Government). Since then, Tweedy has cultivated Flat Black Studios in Lone Tree, Iowa and Spengler has continued to perform in various acts including Viva L’American Death Ray Music...
On the farm in rural Australia where Sophie Payten - AKA Gordi - grew up, there's a paddock that leads down to a river. A few hundred metres away up the driveway of the property named "Alfalfa" sits another house, which belongs to her 93-year-old grandmother. The rest, she says, "is just beautiful space...
Co-presented with SCOPE Productions and sponsored by OPN Architects. The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs-the triumphant fifth album by Wye Oak-begins with an explosion. For a few seconds, piano, drums, and a playful keyboard loop gather momentum; then, all at once, they burst, enormous bass flooding the elastic beat...
Grafting the relentless repetitions of modern minimalism onto the propulsive engine of rock and roll, Horse Lords create an ecstatic forward thrust driven by dueling polyrhythms that curve endlessly past one another. The Baltimore quartet, consisting of saxophonist/percussionist...
At its heart, Hundred Acres -- the third full-length album from Wisconsin singer/songwriter S. Carey -- finds him grounded comfortably in his skin, but still with one foot in the stream. More direct than ever, there is a wellspring of confidence in this new batch of songs...
Heavy, mutilated strains of electronic music with influence from the sounds of Detroit, UK and Germany – Laurel Halo’s music is shapeshifting, moody and ecstatic. The Michigan-born and Berlin-based artist has been a mainstay of the London-based label Hyperdub, who released her breakout...
Locally-informed global citizens, Algiers refuse to sit idly by while most contemporary artists appear perfectly content to sit out the revolution. Not only do Algiers harbor a purposeful sense of obligation in what they do on their latest resistance record The Underside Of Power, but they...
Deb Olin Unferth is the author of Minor Robberies, Vacation, and Revolution: The Year I Fell in Love and Went to Join the War, which was a finalist for a National Book Critics Circle Award in autobiography. She lives in Austin, Texas...
Moen based her music in Dublin this fall and performed around the country at the Roisín Dubh in Galway, Tullamore, Harbour Bar in Bray, and many venues in Dublin including The Ruby Sessions, The Button Factory, Whelan’s, Liquor Rooms, HearOne Studios, and many more. In the states, Moen has had the opportunity to play all around the Midwest...
Dana T started playing music when he was 12, and earned a degree in music from the University of Iowa in 2013. He’s been traveling the USA since 2012 performing his own music, telling stories, and making jokes with saxophonist Curt Oren by his side. His debut record, tiny mind MASSIVE soul...
It was...frankly a terrible moment when Madi and Dzl first emerged on Planet Earth. Their spaceship (more specifically, intergalactic waste management truck), veered severely off course and had run out of fuel by the time WM Spacecraft 999 punctured Earth's atmosphere and hurled point first down...
Counterfeit Madison is the musical manifestation of Columbus, Ohio residents Sharon Udoh, Adam Hardy, and Seth Daily. Udoh is a versatile artist; her funky yet classical piano-playing and soul and gospel-tinged voice comfortably compliment Hardy’s grungy yet melodic style and Daily’s dynamic and...
CJ Run is a singer, rapper and songwriter hailing from the United Kingdom. They are currently a junior at the University of Illinois. At the age of 13 they began making music – drawing inspiration from grime, British hip-hop, RnB and electronic music. Since coming to Champaign-Urbana...
To mark the 10th year anniversary of their first entrance onto the Billboard Charts -- 2008’s Hideaway -- The Weepies are headlining 22 shows across the US with their band.
Singer-songwriters Deb Talan & Steve Tannen began writing together the night they met, and soon formed folk-pop duo...
Purcha$e is an Iowa City-based self taught electronic musician whose music draws from influences such as Daft Punk, Janet Jackson, and the Hubble Space Telescope. In 2017 Purcha$e has released two mixtapes. The debut Medium Desire, and it’s follow up Purcha$e II. Travis Coltrain of The Daily Iowan writes...
Justin Ringle, the man behind all ten years of Horse Feathers, has the following to say about the making of this album, and the current state of his band: “I wanted to stop. I did all the touring for my fourth record – “Cynic’s New Year” – and ended the year 2012 disillusioned and defeated. I didn’t touch my...
PLACK BLAGUE have been insulting the masses for over a decade now. Consistently over-sexualizing the noise and dance genres, Plack Blague continue to confuse the underground world claiming to be "too punk for punk". Studded jocks...
Heavy, mutilated strains of electronic music with influence from the sounds of Detroit, UK and Germany - Laurel Halo's music is shapeshifting, moody and ecstatic. The Michigan-born and Berlin-based artist has been a mainstay of the London-based label Hyperdub, who released her breakout, divisive debut album...
Recording artist and raunchy rapper Cakes Da Killa is a 23-year-old with three critically-acclaimed mixtapes to his name. His latest release Hunger Pangs solidified him as “one of hip hop’s most exciting voices,” according to The Needle Drop, and a ferocious rapper who “sounds like he will absolutely...
Lina M. Ferreira Cabeza-Venegas graduated with both a creative nonfiction writing and a literary translation MFA from the University of Iowa. She is the author of Drown Sever Sing from Anomalous press and Don’t Come Back, from Mad River Books, an imprint of the Ohio State University Press...
Sarah Viren is a writer, translator, and former newspaper reporter originally from Florida by way of Missouri. She is the author of the essay collection, Mine, which won the River Teeth Literary Nonfiction Book Prize, judged by Andre Dubus III, and translator of the novella Córdoba Skies by the...
Peanut Ricky & The Fiends is Iowa City Musician Jordan Adams’ first solo project. While her roots are in the local DIY punk scene, writing for and performing in Conetrauma and Jailbus...
Iowa’s prodigal son Paul Cary closes the circle. In his Iowa days, Cary was the front man for the seminal In The Red Records’ band, The Horrors (not the UK band, the gritty garage rockers from the depths of Iowa). During that time, Paul Cary drove taxis, hopped trains from Iowa City to San Diego, worked the door at local dive bars and toured Europe with The Horrors...
Younger is a band of instigators and super excited about the food here. Younger is not like you. Younger is a great question. Younger is a lot more fun than the kids in school...
Xylouris White is firmly rooted in the past and future. Playing Cretan music of original and traditional composition, the band consists of Georgios Xylouris on Cretan laouto and vocals and Jim White on drum kit. Xylouris is known and loved by Cretans and Greeks at home and abroad...
Current Joys is the moniker for the music of Nicholas Rattigan. Formally known as TELE/VISIONS, Rattigan started the project through a series of experimental solo shows in Reno, Nevada. Performing with only a loop pedal and half broken guitar, Rattigan developed his repetitive and minimalist style...
Mission Creek Festival is a platform for performance, literature, and community happenings. We open this year's festival with an event that combines all three of our programmatic areas.
ION was born on the island of Crete, and raised in the heart of the Nation (Iowa City). He has had the privilege to open for artists Grieves, Sage Francis, Prof, Freddie Gibbs, Mac Lethal, Black Milk, F.Stokes, Ceschi Ramos...
A passing conversation in a studio. Whispers among friends at a show. The notion of musicians working together on a project is often suggested yet seldom realized. Chicago’s M O N A K R was born from such a notion in the grey of Winter 2014...
Dessa is a rapper, singer, essayist, and speaker who has built her career bucking traditional genre designations: she’s performed at rap festivals, sung with a 100-voice choir, and co-written classical works for orchestra...
Literary magazines and independent publishers from across the country, and right here in Iowa City, will set up shop at The Mill in Iowa City for the 8th year in a row, representing some of the most exciting work in publishing today; including: Lambda Literary, VIDA, Kundiman, Iowa Youth...
Join us for the Iowa City Expo for Comics and Real Eclectic Media (ICE CREAM) fair presenting the work of cartoonists, zinesters, and art books / handmade book artists.
Nabila Lovelace is a born and raised Queens native, as well as a first generation American. Her parents hail from Trinidad and Tobago and Nigeria. She currently resides in Tuscaloosa, AL. Her first collection, Sons of Achilles, is forthcoming from YesYes Books in 2018. Nabila is a 2016 Poetry Witch Magazine...
Join us for another installment of the Writers of Color Reading Series, presenting undergraduate and graduate writing students from the University of Iowa. Curated by Kundiman.
LaTanya McQueen is a writer of both fiction and nonfiction and is the current Robert P. Dana Emerging Writer Fellow at Cornell College. McQueen’s work has been featured in Carve Magazine, The Florida Review, Nimrod, Black Warrior Review and more. While earning...
2136 in MERF (Medical Education Research Facility)
Sandra Allen is the author of A Kind of Mirraculas Paradise: A True Story About Schizophrenia. A graduate of the University of Iowa's Nonfiction Writing Program ('12), she was formerly a features editor for BuzzFeed, and ran the online literary quarterly Wag's Revue.
Editors from small publishing houses including Sarabande Books, YesYes Books, Canarium Books, Nomadic Press, and the University of Iowa Press discuss the ins and outs of indie publishing. Q&A to follow.
Our annual Lit Walk series will present readings with Mission Creek Festival 2018 writers in retailers and venues around downtown Iowa City. Participating authors TBA. Enter the Litscape, our curated literary programming presented on Friday and Saturday. Featuring readings in retailers and...
Our annual Lit Walk series will present readings with Mission Creek Festival 2018 writers in retailers and venues around downtown Iowa City. Participating authors TBA. Enter the Litscape, our curated literary programming presented on Friday and Saturday. Featuring readings in retailers and...
Our annual Lit Walk series will present readings with Mission Creek Festival 2018 writers in retailers and venues around downtown Iowa City. Participating authors TBA. Enter the Litscape, our curated literary programming presented on Friday and Saturday. Featuring readings in retailers and...
Deb Olin Unferth is the author of Minor Robberies, Vacation, and Revolution: The Year I Fell in Love and Went to Join the War, which was a finalist for a National Book Critics Circle Award in autobiography. She lives in Austin, Texas...
Lina M. Ferreira Cabeza-Venegas graduated with both a creative nonfiction writing and a literary translation MFA from the University of Iowa. She is the author of Drown Sever Sing from Anomalous press and Don’t Come Back, from Mad River Books, an imprint of the Ohio State University Press...
Sarah Viren is a writer, translator, and former newspaper reporter originally from Florida by way of Missouri. She is the author of the essay collection, Mine, which won the River Teeth Literary Nonfiction Book Prize, judged by Andre Dubus III, and translator of the novella Córdoba Skies by the...
Ancient Posse patch their singular vision together from two very different backgrounds. In one corner, there's Bergeron’s formative years occupied by listening to all the Thom Yorke, romantic composers, and IDM glitchiness he could fit between home school lessons and the countless hours of classical...
Cristalle Bowen, professionally known as Psalm One, has been consistently named one of the nation's Best Artists by the Chicago Tribune, and in 2011 made her national television debut on MTV's Emmy-winning series, MADE. She released her debut album, "Bio:Chemistry", while studying chemistry at the University of Illinois in 2002...
Jamila Woods’ cultural lineage–from her love of Lucille Clifton’s poetry to cherished letters from her grandmother to the infectious late 80s post-punk of The Cure–structure the progressive, delicate and minimalist soul of HEAVN, her debut solo album. “It’s like a collage process,” she says...
Our friends at Big Grove Brewery are once again opening their doors and taps to us with a free show curated by Mission Creek Festival! Featuring: Nadalands with Alexis Stevens, Josefina, Eric Pettit Lion, Ryan Joseph Anderson, Public Access, Annalibera, and Tristen...
BStar has spent the past five years crafting an immersive sound composed of complex, mathy, stop-on-a-dime parts arranged within catchy, atmospheric grooves that fit in right alongside their best post-rock influences. Yet, they exist on their own plane, somewhere between the aggressive...
Co-presented by Hancher. Bassem Youssef, dubbed the Jon Stewart of the Arab World, was a practicing cardiothoracic surgeon when he became the creator and host of popular TV show Al-Bernameg –the first political satire show in the Middle East. Originally a 5-minute show shot from Youssef’s laundry room...
After retiring his project Dirty Beaches, Zhang has been focusing on explorations of improvised music, Free Jazz, and his new role as a composer. His newer compositions
predominantly works with saxophone, synthesizers, percussion and piano, furthering his...
Throughout history, human beings have relied on rituals—personal, religious, professional, social, creative, and otherwise. It’s these rites that establish a modicum of control and cohesion over a world that often seems far removed from both. When swimming through tragedy, turmoil, and tumult...
Karen Meat is a pop rock project of Arin Eaton based between Des Moines and Iowa City. The band itself is a moody character, a sequined oversized sweater, crooning melodies and lyrics of a bored generation. She’s Drunk Like The Rest Of Us, Karen Meat’s recent November 2016...
Squirrel Flower is Boston, MA and Grinnell, IA based, Ella Williams' solo project. Her sparse arrangements and heavy coats of reverb offer a depth to her soundscape reaching far back as the rolling hill horizons of the Iowa prairie. The harmonies flowering her arrangements are close and yank...
(MOVED TO GABE'S) Twenty years on from first signing to Warner Bros. Records, Built To Spill is set to return in 2015 with its eighth studio album, Untethered Moon. That’s now two complete decades that one of America’s leading “indie rock” bands has happily made its home on a major label
Sarah Tiana is a stand-up comedian and writer living in Los Angeles and headlining at comedy clubs across the country. An avid sports fan, she often writes for the ESPY Awards, helps put together Rob Riggle’s NFL segments on FOX...
(MOVED TO THE ENGLERT) Julien Baker's solo debut, Sprained Ankle, was one of the most widely acclaimed works of 2015. The album, recorded by an 18-year-old and her friend in only a few days, was a bleak yet hopeful, intimate document of staggering experiences and grace, centered entirely...
Feel Free encompasses a variety of creative musical expressions created by Shawn Reed and Derek Maxwell from their base in the Twin Cities. With deep histories in Underground music Reed and Maxwell both relocated to the Twin Cities...
Co-presented with SCOPE Productions. An indie duo from Rock Island, IL, Sister Wife has played their music from coast to coast and is gaining traction in the indie music community. With hints of rock, soul, funk, jazz, folk, and pop theres a lil something for almost any musical taste.
Co-presented with SCOPE Productions. Emotions and Math is not simply the name of Margaret Glaspy’s new debut album. That expression drills right to the heart of the New York singer-songwriter’s proper introduction, a mission statement both artistic and personal. On its surface, the title track talks about being...
Extravision is an intentionally malleable music project. You may see Ryan Stier performing meditational 12-string dronefolk songs in DIY spaces such as living rooms, sanctuaries, candlelit magic stone shops, and art galleries. The project will appear at Mission Creek in its originally conceived form–psychrock...
Sinner Frenz are Luke Tweedy and Brendan Lee Spengler, who previously played together in the underground supergroup ft(The Shadow Government). Since then, Tweedy has cultivated Flat Black Studios in Lone Tree, Iowa and Spengler has continued to perform in various acts including Viva L’American Death Ray Music...
Co-presented with SCOPE Productions and sponsored by OPN Architects. The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs-the triumphant fifth album by Wye Oak-begins with an explosion. For a few seconds, piano, drums, and a playful keyboard loop gather momentum; then, all at once, they burst, enormous bass flooding the elastic beat...
On the farm in rural Australia where Sophie Payten - AKA Gordi - grew up, there's a paddock that leads down to a river. A few hundred metres away up the driveway of the property named "Alfalfa" sits another house, which belongs to her 93-year-old grandmother. The rest, she says, "is just beautiful space...
Grafting the relentless repetitions of modern minimalism onto the propulsive engine of rock and roll, Horse Lords create an ecstatic forward thrust driven by dueling polyrhythms that curve endlessly past one another. The Baltimore quartet, consisting of saxophonist/percussionist...
At its heart, Hundred Acres -- the third full-length album from Wisconsin singer/songwriter S. Carey -- finds him grounded comfortably in his skin, but still with one foot in the stream. More direct than ever, there is a wellspring of confidence in this new batch of songs...
Heavy, mutilated strains of electronic music with influence from the sounds of Detroit, UK and Germany – Laurel Halo’s music is shapeshifting, moody and ecstatic. The Michigan-born and Berlin-based artist has been a mainstay of the London-based label Hyperdub, who released her breakout...
Locally-informed global citizens, Algiers refuse to sit idly by while most contemporary artists appear perfectly content to sit out the revolution. Not only do Algiers harbor a purposeful sense of obligation in what they do on their latest resistance record The Underside Of Power, but they...
Moen based her music in Dublin this fall and performed around the country at the Roisín Dubh in Galway, Tullamore, Harbour Bar in Bray, and many venues in Dublin including The Ruby Sessions, The Button Factory, Whelan’s, Liquor Rooms, HearOne Studios, and many more. In the states, Moen has had the opportunity to play all around the Midwest...
Dana T started playing music when he was 12, and earned a degree in music from the University of Iowa in 2013. He’s been traveling the USA since 2012 performing his own music, telling stories, and making jokes with saxophonist Curt Oren by his side. His debut record, tiny mind MASSIVE soul...
It was...frankly a terrible moment when Madi and Dzl first emerged on Planet Earth. Their spaceship (more specifically, intergalactic waste management truck), veered severely off course and had run out of fuel by the time WM Spacecraft 999 punctured Earth's atmosphere and hurled point first down...
Counterfeit Madison is the musical manifestation of Columbus, Ohio residents Sharon Udoh, Adam Hardy, and Seth Daily. Udoh is a versatile artist; her funky yet classical piano-playing and soul and gospel-tinged voice comfortably compliment Hardy’s grungy yet melodic style and Daily’s dynamic and...
CJ Run is a singer, rapper and songwriter hailing from the United Kingdom. They are currently a junior at the University of Illinois. At the age of 13 they began making music – drawing inspiration from grime, British hip-hop, RnB and electronic music. Since coming to Champaign-Urbana...
To mark the 10th year anniversary of their first entrance onto the Billboard Charts -- 2008’s Hideaway -- The Weepies are headlining 22 shows across the US with their band.
Singer-songwriters Deb Talan & Steve Tannen began writing together the night they met, and soon formed folk-pop duo...
Purcha$e is an Iowa City-based self taught electronic musician whose music draws from influences such as Daft Punk, Janet Jackson, and the Hubble Space Telescope. In 2017 Purcha$e has released two mixtapes. The debut Medium Desire, and it’s follow up Purcha$e II. Travis Coltrain of The Daily Iowan writes...
Justin Ringle, the man behind all ten years of Horse Feathers, has the following to say about the making of this album, and the current state of his band: “I wanted to stop. I did all the touring for my fourth record – “Cynic’s New Year” – and ended the year 2012 disillusioned and defeated. I didn’t touch my...
PLACK BLAGUE have been insulting the masses for over a decade now. Consistently over-sexualizing the noise and dance genres, Plack Blague continue to confuse the underground world claiming to be "too punk for punk". Studded jocks...
Heavy, mutilated strains of electronic music with influence from the sounds of Detroit, UK and Germany - Laurel Halo's music is shapeshifting, moody and ecstatic. The Michigan-born and Berlin-based artist has been a mainstay of the London-based label Hyperdub, who released her breakout, divisive debut album...
Recording artist and raunchy rapper Cakes Da Killa is a 23-year-old with three critically-acclaimed mixtapes to his name. His latest release Hunger Pangs solidified him as “one of hip hop’s most exciting voices,” according to The Needle Drop, and a ferocious rapper who “sounds like he will absolutely...
Peanut Ricky & The Fiends is Iowa City Musician Jordan Adams’ first solo project. While her roots are in the local DIY punk scene, writing for and performing in Conetrauma and Jailbus...
Iowa’s prodigal son Paul Cary closes the circle. In his Iowa days, Cary was the front man for the seminal In The Red Records’ band, The Horrors (not the UK band, the gritty garage rockers from the depths of Iowa). During that time, Paul Cary drove taxis, hopped trains from Iowa City to San Diego, worked the door at local dive bars and toured Europe with The Horrors...
Younger is a band of instigators and super excited about the food here. Younger is not like you. Younger is a great question. Younger is a lot more fun than the kids in school...
Xylouris White is firmly rooted in the past and future. Playing Cretan music of original and traditional composition, the band consists of Georgios Xylouris on Cretan laouto and vocals and Jim White on drum kit. Xylouris is known and loved by Cretans and Greeks at home and abroad...
Current Joys is the moniker for the music of Nicholas Rattigan. Formally known as TELE/VISIONS, Rattigan started the project through a series of experimental solo shows in Reno, Nevada. Performing with only a loop pedal and half broken guitar, Rattigan developed his repetitive and minimalist style...
Mission Creek Festival is a platform for performance, literature, and community happenings. We open this year's festival with an event that combines all three of our programmatic areas.
ION was born on the island of Crete, and raised in the heart of the Nation (Iowa City). He has had the privilege to open for artists Grieves, Sage Francis, Prof, Freddie Gibbs, Mac Lethal, Black Milk, F.Stokes, Ceschi Ramos...
A passing conversation in a studio. Whispers among friends at a show. The notion of musicians working together on a project is often suggested yet seldom realized. Chicago’s M O N A K R was born from such a notion in the grey of Winter 2014...
Dessa is a rapper, singer, essayist, and speaker who has built her career bucking traditional genre designations: she’s performed at rap festivals, sung with a 100-voice choir, and co-written classical works for orchestra...
ALT (Art + Life + Tech) returns to Iowa City this spring, with events happening throughout the day on Saturday, April 7. ALT explores intersections between technology, art, and our lives through keynote talks, workshops, and panel discussions. We seek to inspire and build community creativity empowered...
Join us for the Iowa City Expo for Comics and Real Eclectic Media (ICE CREAM) fair presenting the work of cartoonists, zinesters, and art books / handmade book artists.
Tickling Giants tells the story of Dr. Bassem Youssef, the "Egyptian Jon Stewart", who decides to leave his job as a heart surgeon and become a late-night comedian. The movie is about how he finds creative, non-violent ways to protect free speech...
Our friends at Big Grove Brewery are once again opening their doors and taps to us with a free show curated by Mission Creek Festival! Featuring: Nadalands with Alexis Stevens, Josefina, Eric Pettit Lion, Ryan Joseph Anderson, Public Access, Annalibera, and Tristen...
Nadalands is the solo songwriting project of John Lindenbaum (The Lonelyhearts, Rust Belt Music). Based in Fort Collins, Colorado, this project has released 11 EPs and one LP since 2000. This Mission Creek Festival performance will feature Alexis Stevens on guest vocals...
Josefina is a singer-songwriter based in Chicago, originally from Buenos Aires. Her lush vocal stylings pair with alt-country production chock full of piano, B-Bender, Pedal Steel, and 12-string that would have found an easy home on Asylum Records circa 1970s. But this isn’t a throwback to Joni or Emmylou. This is a modern girl making modern music with a scant twang and an infectious lightness of being...
Like the gritty Mississippi River they reside by, Eric Pettit Lion can't stop. And won't stop. Which is what happens when a band fine tunes a sound and hits their stride. EP Lion has morphed into a mainstay in the Iowa music scene. It's pretty amazing these guys are able to hold down day jobs. The original family duo of Pettit and Tim Buhmeyer are still at the helm. Alongside them now are Ed Mansheim and Micah Oleson...
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 Daytrotter and Songpickr and were featured in Paste and Magnet. American Songwriter said...
Public Access is an instrumental band based throughout the midwest. Headquartered in Grand Rapids with outposts in Chicago, Milwaukee, Traverse City, and Marquette, Public Access boasts a variety of musicians. Public Access draws its inspiration from the searing guitars of Brian May and David Gilmour to the sultry sax tones of Paul Desmond, and all the way to the rhythm of Four Tet and the synth of Daft Punk...
Annalibera is a music project based in the Midwest. In 2014 they released Nevermind I Love You on Sump Pump Records and loveil, a video/music work released on Night People...
Pop savant, Tristen, a mononymous singer-songwriter, musician, and beloved member of Nashville's underground scene, is known for her "knack for penning an infectious hook" (Entertainment Weekly). She has released three albums to critical acclaim: Charlatans at the Garden Gate (2011)...
Mission Creek Festival is a platform for performance, literature, and community happenings. We open this year's festival with an event that combines all three of our programmatic areas.
Ancient Posse patch their singular vision together from two very different backgrounds. In one corner, there's Bergeron’s formative years occupied by listening to all the Thom Yorke, romantic composers, and IDM glitchiness he could fit between home school lessons and the countless hours of classical...
Cristalle Bowen, professionally known as Psalm One, has been consistently named one of the nation's Best Artists by the Chicago Tribune, and in 2011 made her national television debut on MTV's Emmy-winning series, MADE. She released her debut album, "Bio:Chemistry", while studying chemistry at the University of Illinois in 2002...
Jamila Woods’ cultural lineage–from her love of Lucille Clifton’s poetry to cherished letters from her grandmother to the infectious late 80s post-punk of The Cure–structure the progressive, delicate and minimalist soul of HEAVN, her debut solo album. “It’s like a collage process,” she says...
ALT (Art + Life + Tech) returns to Iowa City this spring, with events happening throughout the day on Saturday, April 7. ALT explores intersections between technology, art, and our lives through keynote talks, workshops, and panel discussions. We seek to inspire and build community creativity empowered...
Literary magazines and independent publishers from across the country, and right here in Iowa City, will set up shop at The Mill in Iowa City for the 8th year in a row, representing some of the most exciting work in publishing today; including: Lambda Literary, VIDA, Kundiman, Iowa Youth...
Join us for the Iowa City Expo for Comics and Real Eclectic Media (ICE CREAM) fair presenting the work of cartoonists, zinesters, and art books / handmade book artists.
Tickling Giants tells the story of Dr. Bassem Youssef, the "Egyptian Jon Stewart", who decides to leave his job as a heart surgeon and become a late-night comedian. The movie is about how he finds creative, non-violent ways to protect free speech...
Nabila Lovelace is a born and raised Queens native, as well as a first generation American. Her parents hail from Trinidad and Tobago and Nigeria. She currently resides in Tuscaloosa, AL. Her first collection, Sons of Achilles, is forthcoming from YesYes Books in 2018. Nabila is a 2016 Poetry Witch Magazine...
Our friends at Big Grove Brewery are once again opening their doors and taps to us with a free show curated by Mission Creek Festival! Featuring: Nadalands with Alexis Stevens, Josefina, Eric Pettit Lion, Ryan Joseph Anderson, Public Access, Annalibera, and Tristen...
Nadalands is the solo songwriting project of John Lindenbaum (The Lonelyhearts, Rust Belt Music). Based in Fort Collins, Colorado, this project has released 11 EPs and one LP since 2000. This Mission Creek Festival performance will feature Alexis Stevens on guest vocals...
Join us for another installment of the Writers of Color Reading Series, presenting undergraduate and graduate writing students from the University of Iowa. Curated by Kundiman.
Josefina is a singer-songwriter based in Chicago, originally from Buenos Aires. Her lush vocal stylings pair with alt-country production chock full of piano, B-Bender, Pedal Steel, and 12-string that would have found an easy home on Asylum Records circa 1970s. But this isn’t a throwback to Joni or Emmylou. This is a modern girl making modern music with a scant twang and an infectious lightness of being...
LaTanya McQueen is a writer of both fiction and nonfiction and is the current Robert P. Dana Emerging Writer Fellow at Cornell College. McQueen’s work has been featured in Carve Magazine, The Florida Review, Nimrod, Black Warrior Review and more. While earning...
Like the gritty Mississippi River they reside by, Eric Pettit Lion can't stop. And won't stop. Which is what happens when a band fine tunes a sound and hits their stride. EP Lion has morphed into a mainstay in the Iowa music scene. It's pretty amazing these guys are able to hold down day jobs. The original family duo of Pettit and Tim Buhmeyer are still at the helm. Alongside them now are Ed Mansheim and Micah Oleson...
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 Daytrotter and Songpickr and were featured in Paste and Magnet. American Songwriter said...
Public Access is an instrumental band based throughout the midwest. Headquartered in Grand Rapids with outposts in Chicago, Milwaukee, Traverse City, and Marquette, Public Access boasts a variety of musicians. Public Access draws its inspiration from the searing guitars of Brian May and David Gilmour to the sultry sax tones of Paul Desmond, and all the way to the rhythm of Four Tet and the synth of Daft Punk...
BStar has spent the past five years crafting an immersive sound composed of complex, mathy, stop-on-a-dime parts arranged within catchy, atmospheric grooves that fit in right alongside their best post-rock influences. Yet, they exist on their own plane, somewhere between the aggressive...
Annalibera is a music project based in the Midwest. In 2014 they released Nevermind I Love You on Sump Pump Records and loveil, a video/music work released on Night People...
Co-presented by Hancher. Bassem Youssef, dubbed the Jon Stewart of the Arab World, was a practicing cardiothoracic surgeon when he became the creator and host of popular TV show Al-Bernameg –the first political satire show in the Middle East. Originally a 5-minute show shot from Youssef’s laundry room...
Pop savant, Tristen, a mononymous singer-songwriter, musician, and beloved member of Nashville's underground scene, is known for her "knack for penning an infectious hook" (Entertainment Weekly). She has released three albums to critical acclaim: Charlatans at the Garden Gate (2011)...
After retiring his project Dirty Beaches, Zhang has been focusing on explorations of improvised music, Free Jazz, and his new role as a composer. His newer compositions
predominantly works with saxophone, synthesizers, percussion and piano, furthering his...
Throughout history, human beings have relied on rituals—personal, religious, professional, social, creative, and otherwise. It’s these rites that establish a modicum of control and cohesion over a world that often seems far removed from both. When swimming through tragedy, turmoil, and tumult...
Karen Meat is a pop rock project of Arin Eaton based between Des Moines and Iowa City. The band itself is a moody character, a sequined oversized sweater, crooning melodies and lyrics of a bored generation. She’s Drunk Like The Rest Of Us, Karen Meat’s recent November 2016...
Squirrel Flower is Boston, MA and Grinnell, IA based, Ella Williams' solo project. Her sparse arrangements and heavy coats of reverb offer a depth to her soundscape reaching far back as the rolling hill horizons of the Iowa prairie. The harmonies flowering her arrangements are close and yank...
(MOVED TO GABE'S) Twenty years on from first signing to Warner Bros. Records, Built To Spill is set to return in 2015 with its eighth studio album, Untethered Moon. That’s now two complete decades that one of America’s leading “indie rock” bands has happily made its home on a major label
Sarah Tiana is a stand-up comedian and writer living in Los Angeles and headlining at comedy clubs across the country. An avid sports fan, she often writes for the ESPY Awards, helps put together Rob Riggle’s NFL segments on FOX...
(MOVED TO THE ENGLERT) Julien Baker's solo debut, Sprained Ankle, was one of the most widely acclaimed works of 2015. The album, recorded by an 18-year-old and her friend in only a few days, was a bleak yet hopeful, intimate document of staggering experiences and grace, centered entirely...
Feel Free encompasses a variety of creative musical expressions created by Shawn Reed and Derek Maxwell from their base in the Twin Cities. With deep histories in Underground music Reed and Maxwell both relocated to the Twin Cities...
2136 in MERF (Medical Education Research Facility)
Sandra Allen is the author of A Kind of Mirraculas Paradise: A True Story About Schizophrenia. A graduate of the University of Iowa's Nonfiction Writing Program ('12), she was formerly a features editor for BuzzFeed, and ran the online literary quarterly Wag's Revue.
Editors from small publishing houses including Sarabande Books, YesYes Books, Canarium Books, Nomadic Press, and the University of Iowa Press discuss the ins and outs of indie publishing. Q&A to follow.
Our annual Lit Walk series will present readings with Mission Creek Festival 2018 writers in retailers and venues around downtown Iowa City. Participating authors TBA. Enter the Litscape, our curated literary programming presented on Friday and Saturday. Featuring readings in retailers and...
Our annual Lit Walk series will present readings with Mission Creek Festival 2018 writers in retailers and venues around downtown Iowa City. Participating authors TBA. Enter the Litscape, our curated literary programming presented on Friday and Saturday. Featuring readings in retailers and...
Co-presented with SCOPE Productions. An indie duo from Rock Island, IL, Sister Wife has played their music from coast to coast and is gaining traction in the indie music community. With hints of rock, soul, funk, jazz, folk, and pop theres a lil something for almost any musical taste.
Our annual Lit Walk series will present readings with Mission Creek Festival 2018 writers in retailers and venues around downtown Iowa City. Participating authors TBA. Enter the Litscape, our curated literary programming presented on Friday and Saturday. Featuring readings in retailers and...
Co-presented with SCOPE Productions. Emotions and Math is not simply the name of Margaret Glaspy’s new debut album. That expression drills right to the heart of the New York singer-songwriter’s proper introduction, a mission statement both artistic and personal. On its surface, the title track talks about being...
Extravision is an intentionally malleable music project. You may see Ryan Stier performing meditational 12-string dronefolk songs in DIY spaces such as living rooms, sanctuaries, candlelit magic stone shops, and art galleries. The project will appear at Mission Creek in its originally conceived form–psychrock...
Sinner Frenz are Luke Tweedy and Brendan Lee Spengler, who previously played together in the underground supergroup ft(The Shadow Government). Since then, Tweedy has cultivated Flat Black Studios in Lone Tree, Iowa and Spengler has continued to perform in various acts including Viva L’American Death Ray Music...
On the farm in rural Australia where Sophie Payten - AKA Gordi - grew up, there's a paddock that leads down to a river. A few hundred metres away up the driveway of the property named "Alfalfa" sits another house, which belongs to her 93-year-old grandmother. The rest, she says, "is just beautiful space...
Co-presented with SCOPE Productions and sponsored by OPN Architects. The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs-the triumphant fifth album by Wye Oak-begins with an explosion. For a few seconds, piano, drums, and a playful keyboard loop gather momentum; then, all at once, they burst, enormous bass flooding the elastic beat...
Grafting the relentless repetitions of modern minimalism onto the propulsive engine of rock and roll, Horse Lords create an ecstatic forward thrust driven by dueling polyrhythms that curve endlessly past one another. The Baltimore quartet, consisting of saxophonist/percussionist...
At its heart, Hundred Acres -- the third full-length album from Wisconsin singer/songwriter S. Carey -- finds him grounded comfortably in his skin, but still with one foot in the stream. More direct than ever, there is a wellspring of confidence in this new batch of songs...
Heavy, mutilated strains of electronic music with influence from the sounds of Detroit, UK and Germany – Laurel Halo’s music is shapeshifting, moody and ecstatic. The Michigan-born and Berlin-based artist has been a mainstay of the London-based label Hyperdub, who released her breakout...
Locally-informed global citizens, Algiers refuse to sit idly by while most contemporary artists appear perfectly content to sit out the revolution. Not only do Algiers harbor a purposeful sense of obligation in what they do on their latest resistance record The Underside Of Power, but they...
Deb Olin Unferth is the author of Minor Robberies, Vacation, and Revolution: The Year I Fell in Love and Went to Join the War, which was a finalist for a National Book Critics Circle Award in autobiography. She lives in Austin, Texas...
Moen based her music in Dublin this fall and performed around the country at the Roisín Dubh in Galway, Tullamore, Harbour Bar in Bray, and many venues in Dublin including The Ruby Sessions, The Button Factory, Whelan’s, Liquor Rooms, HearOne Studios, and many more. In the states, Moen has had the opportunity to play all around the Midwest...
Dana T started playing music when he was 12, and earned a degree in music from the University of Iowa in 2013. He’s been traveling the USA since 2012 performing his own music, telling stories, and making jokes with saxophonist Curt Oren by his side. His debut record, tiny mind MASSIVE soul...
It was...frankly a terrible moment when Madi and Dzl first emerged on Planet Earth. Their spaceship (more specifically, intergalactic waste management truck), veered severely off course and had run out of fuel by the time WM Spacecraft 999 punctured Earth's atmosphere and hurled point first down...
Counterfeit Madison is the musical manifestation of Columbus, Ohio residents Sharon Udoh, Adam Hardy, and Seth Daily. Udoh is a versatile artist; her funky yet classical piano-playing and soul and gospel-tinged voice comfortably compliment Hardy’s grungy yet melodic style and Daily’s dynamic and...
CJ Run is a singer, rapper and songwriter hailing from the United Kingdom. They are currently a junior at the University of Illinois. At the age of 13 they began making music – drawing inspiration from grime, British hip-hop, RnB and electronic music. Since coming to Champaign-Urbana...
To mark the 10th year anniversary of their first entrance onto the Billboard Charts -- 2008’s Hideaway -- The Weepies are headlining 22 shows across the US with their band.
Singer-songwriters Deb Talan & Steve Tannen began writing together the night they met, and soon formed folk-pop duo...
Purcha$e is an Iowa City-based self taught electronic musician whose music draws from influences such as Daft Punk, Janet Jackson, and the Hubble Space Telescope. In 2017 Purcha$e has released two mixtapes. The debut Medium Desire, and it’s follow up Purcha$e II. Travis Coltrain of The Daily Iowan writes...
Justin Ringle, the man behind all ten years of Horse Feathers, has the following to say about the making of this album, and the current state of his band: “I wanted to stop. I did all the touring for my fourth record – “Cynic’s New Year” – and ended the year 2012 disillusioned and defeated. I didn’t touch my...
PLACK BLAGUE have been insulting the masses for over a decade now. Consistently over-sexualizing the noise and dance genres, Plack Blague continue to confuse the underground world claiming to be "too punk for punk". Studded jocks...
Heavy, mutilated strains of electronic music with influence from the sounds of Detroit, UK and Germany - Laurel Halo's music is shapeshifting, moody and ecstatic. The Michigan-born and Berlin-based artist has been a mainstay of the London-based label Hyperdub, who released her breakout, divisive debut album...
Recording artist and raunchy rapper Cakes Da Killa is a 23-year-old with three critically-acclaimed mixtapes to his name. His latest release Hunger Pangs solidified him as “one of hip hop’s most exciting voices,” according to The Needle Drop, and a ferocious rapper who “sounds like he will absolutely...
Lina M. Ferreira Cabeza-Venegas graduated with both a creative nonfiction writing and a literary translation MFA from the University of Iowa. She is the author of Drown Sever Sing from Anomalous press and Don’t Come Back, from Mad River Books, an imprint of the Ohio State University Press...
Sarah Viren is a writer, translator, and former newspaper reporter originally from Florida by way of Missouri. She is the author of the essay collection, Mine, which won the River Teeth Literary Nonfiction Book Prize, judged by Andre Dubus III, and translator of the novella Córdoba Skies by the...
Peanut Ricky & The Fiends is Iowa City Musician Jordan Adams’ first solo project. While her roots are in the local DIY punk scene, writing for and performing in Conetrauma and Jailbus...
Iowa’s prodigal son Paul Cary closes the circle. In his Iowa days, Cary was the front man for the seminal In The Red Records’ band, The Horrors (not the UK band, the gritty garage rockers from the depths of Iowa). During that time, Paul Cary drove taxis, hopped trains from Iowa City to San Diego, worked the door at local dive bars and toured Europe with The Horrors...
Younger is a band of instigators and super excited about the food here. Younger is not like you. Younger is a great question. Younger is a lot more fun than the kids in school...
Xylouris White is firmly rooted in the past and future. Playing Cretan music of original and traditional composition, the band consists of Georgios Xylouris on Cretan laouto and vocals and Jim White on drum kit. Xylouris is known and loved by Cretans and Greeks at home and abroad...
Current Joys is the moniker for the music of Nicholas Rattigan. Formally known as TELE/VISIONS, Rattigan started the project through a series of experimental solo shows in Reno, Nevada. Performing with only a loop pedal and half broken guitar, Rattigan developed his repetitive and minimalist style...
Mission Creek Festival is a platform for performance, literature, and community happenings. We open this year's festival with an event that combines all three of our programmatic areas.
ION was born on the island of Crete, and raised in the heart of the Nation (Iowa City). He has had the privilege to open for artists Grieves, Sage Francis, Prof, Freddie Gibbs, Mac Lethal, Black Milk, F.Stokes, Ceschi Ramos...
A passing conversation in a studio. Whispers among friends at a show. The notion of musicians working together on a project is often suggested yet seldom realized. Chicago’s M O N A K R was born from such a notion in the grey of Winter 2014...
Dessa is a rapper, singer, essayist, and speaker who has built her career bucking traditional genre designations: she’s performed at rap festivals, sung with a 100-voice choir, and co-written classical works for orchestra...
Culled together from the concrete deserts and decades-old industry of the city’s wrong-side-of-the-tracks, Karen Meat first appeared in the Des Moines scene at a Battle of the Bands. At the time, the band was a duo with Bradley Turk sharing songwriting and lead responsibilities with the band’s namesake member, Arin Eaton...
Iowa’s prodigal son Paul Cary closes the circle. In his Iowa days, Cary was the front man for the seminal In The Red Records’ band, The Horrors (not the UK band, the gritty garage rockers from the depths of Iowa). During that time, Paul Cary drove taxis, hopped trains from Iowa City to San Diego, worked the door at local dive bars and toured Europe with The Horrors. While on In the Red Records, The Horrors released two albums: 2000’s self-titled The Horrors, and 2004’s Vent...
The A.V. Club calls Andrew Bird a “musical polymath [who] is the quintessential word-of-mouth artist.” So, take our word for it: Bird is the real deal. A multi-instrumentalist, a compelling singer-songwriter, and a heck of a whistler, he has quietly built a loyal fan base happy to shout its approval of his eclectic music...
Culled together from the concrete deserts and decades-old industry of the city’s wrong-side-of-the-tracks, Karen Meat first appeared in the Des Moines scene at a Battle of the Bands. At the time, the band was a duo with Bradley Turk sharing songwriting and lead responsibilities with the band’s namesake member, Arin Eaton...
Iowa’s prodigal son Paul Cary closes the circle. In his Iowa days, Cary was the front man for the seminal In The Red Records’ band, The Horrors (not the UK band, the gritty garage rockers from the depths of Iowa). During that time, Paul Cary drove taxis, hopped trains from Iowa City to San Diego, worked the door at local dive bars and toured Europe with The Horrors. While on In the Red Records, The Horrors released two albums: 2000’s self-titled The Horrors, and 2004’s Vent...
The A.V. Club calls Andrew Bird a “musical polymath [who] is the quintessential word-of-mouth artist.” So, take our word for it: Bird is the real deal. A multi-instrumentalist, a compelling singer-songwriter, and a heck of a whistler, he has quietly built a loyal fan base happy to shout its approval of his eclectic music...
Culled together from the concrete deserts and decades-old industry of the city’s wrong-side-of-the-tracks, Karen Meat first appeared in the Des Moines scene at a Battle of the Bands. At the time, the band was a duo with Bradley Turk sharing songwriting and lead responsibilities with the band’s namesake member, Arin Eaton...
Iowa’s prodigal son Paul Cary closes the circle. In his Iowa days, Cary was the front man for the seminal In The Red Records’ band, The Horrors (not the UK band, the gritty garage rockers from the depths of Iowa). During that time, Paul Cary drove taxis, hopped trains from Iowa City to San Diego, worked the door at local dive bars and toured Europe with The Horrors. While on In the Red Records, The Horrors released two albums: 2000’s self-titled The Horrors, and 2004’s Vent...
The A.V. Club calls Andrew Bird a “musical polymath [who] is the quintessential word-of-mouth artist.” So, take our word for it: Bird is the real deal. A multi-instrumentalist, a compelling singer-songwriter, and a heck of a whistler, he has quietly built a loyal fan base happy to shout its approval of his eclectic music...
Literary magazines and independent publishers from around the block and across the country will set up shop at The Mill in Iowa City for the 9th year in a row. Representing some of the most exciting work in publishing today, this free, day-long event features The Sun, Two Dollar Radio, Sarabande, Canarium Books, Rose Metal Press, Nomadic Press, Prompt Press, The Iowa Review, and many more literary up-and-comers as well as indie lit mainstays.
Join us for the Iowa City Expo for Comics and Real Eclectic Media (ICE CREAM) fair presenting the work of cartoonists, zinesters, and art books / handmade book artists. Vendors TBA.
What makes a poem in translation? Are human translators still needed in the age of auto-translate technology? Experiment with sound and translation—and craft a sonic poem of your own—in this nontraditional workshop for non-translators and monolinguists.
Debut Two Dollar Radio author Sarah Rose Etter (The Book of X) and established author Matt Bell (Appleseed, Scrapper)—who first published work with small presses such as Willows Wept, Keyhole, and Mudluscious—will read together in the Indie Showcase at Prairie Lights Bookstore.
Daylight DIY at Trumpet Blossom Cafe Mission Creek’s FREE all-ages, rip-your-face-off showcase of underground acts from across the Midwest and beyond! Featuring local acts Father Christmas, Midwest Waves, and Function as well as St. Louis-based, RedBait! Artist Details RedBait RedBait did not come from a music scene, but instead from the ranks of St Louis activists […]
Subatlantic, an indie rock band based in the Quad Cities, features Becca Rice–lead vocals, guitar, and keyboards; Adam Kaul–guitar; Phil Pracht–drums; and Sean Chapman–bass and cello. Subatlantic formed in 2008, released their first EP in May of 2015 on Bandcamp, and their new 12 song album, “Villains” is out now. With four musicians capable on […]
Garth Greenwell reads from Cleanness, the highly anticipated follow-up to his beloved debut What Belongs to You, alongside Paul Lisicky, author of the acclaimed memoir The Narrow Door as well as his newest book, Later.
Lily DeTaeye‘s music combines the Black Keys’ grit with Brandi Carlile’s eloquent lyric-writing into one high energy show. She’s like if your neighborhood librarian rocked a blues harp in yellow overalls. You definitely don’t wanna miss her. DeTaeye is a Des Moines native, harmonica-wielding singer songwriter signed to Station 1 Records. After the release of […]
Why Bonnie started life as the bedroom recording project of Blair Howerton. The group has grown into a quartet comprised of Kendall Powell, Sam Houdek, and Chance Williams. They’ve released their first two EPs, In Water and Nightgown, via Sports Day Records. Why Bonnie is currently gearing up for a much anticipated release in 2020, […]
Essayist and poet Hanif Abdurraqib and musician Adia Victoria team up for a reading followed by a discussion of their work, including poetry, prose, lyrics, and musical composition.
Already celebrated as the “Heart of Chicago’s Music Community” (Noisey) by both fans and tastemakers alike, OHMME (aka the duo of Sima Cunningham and Macie Stewart) amalgamate the aggressive and the meditative on their bold debut full-length album, Parts. Still in their 20s, Stewart and Cunningham are both classically trained musicians and are established players […]
Co-presented by the National Book Foundation, the Saturday Keynote Reading caps off the day's rich literary offerings and features National Book Award finalist Helen Phillips, award-winning poet Tommy Pico, and graphic essayist Kristen Radtke.
The Minks are Nashville’s “psychedelic-bloos” band, heavy on the rock and roll. We’re talking low-down, all the way, purse-lipped, eyes-shut, head-whirling kind of rock and roll. The band’s palpable sound has roots in every music fan’s top ten—from Lou to Patti to Creedence to Hank. Mixed with raw, jangly instrumentation and soulful saccharine vocals, it’s […]
On her debut album ALONE AT LAST, Tasha celebrates the radical political act of being exquisitely gentle with yourself. For years, the Chicago songwriter has dreamed hard of a better world — she’s worked with the local racial justice organization BLACK YOUTH PROJECT 100 and has been on the front lines at protests around the […]
Columbia, Missouri trio The Hooten Hallers are a high-energy blues-rock band known for hard-traveling and wild live shows, with a seemingly endless tour schedule. The myriad of influences in their music incorporates elements of rhythm & blues, rock’n’roll, honky tonk, jazz, soul, and punk with a thematic penchant for the strange and the unexplained. Their […]
With a sultry and intoxicating voice, Elizabeth Moen lures you in. Paired with introspective lyrics that echo both bitter and sweet, her music will captivate you then stay with you. “Moen is one of those rare artists whose voice, from the first moment you hear it, consumes your entire being, doing away with all previous […]
Spectral Snake is the musical project of Angela Barr and Brooks Strause, devised as a way to tell fantastical horror stories about “real”-life darkness, packaged in subtle, elegant songs. Multi-instrumentalists Barr and Strause (along with an ever-growing gang of collaborators) create eerily beautiful sounds that have been described as the folk music of an alien […]
Dog Dave is a two-piece alternative folk punk band from Iowa City featuring John Quijas on drums and Adelina Reels on guitar and vocals. They perform songs with themes ranging from cats to cars.
Aseethe remains one of the most distinctive and relentless forces in heavy music operating today. Through their ability to constantly evolve and incorporate new sounds and disparate influences into their music, they stand at the vanguard of forward thinking bands like labelmates The Body and SUMAC. Throes is Aseethe at their most daring and focused, […]
Dacus uses her gift as a songwriter to help understand and cope with the world around her, including making sense of national holidays, often more geared towards social media boasts and manufactured consumerism than authentic celebration. “What is going on,” she asks herself on these days, retreating from the heightened expectations of holidays to figure […]
Dos Santos is a quintet just 5 years working in Chicago but already established as one of the city’s most potent, impactful performers. A band known to be at home in a broad spectrum of venues and contexts – as proficient at nailing epic progressive arrangements for summer street festivals in the Latinx culture hub […]
Squirrel Flower’s music is ethereal and warm, gushing with emotional depth that the listener can step into like a warm bath. The band on her new album, I Was Born Swimming, plays with delicate intention, keeping the arrangements natural and light. The album was tracked live, with few overdubs, at The Rare Book Room Studio […]
After studying avant-garde jazz and improvisation with jazz legend Anthony Braxton, Nat Baldwin started writing songs featuring double bass and vocals. Nat’s AUTONOMIA I: Body Without Organs represents a departure from the rich body of solo work he’s amassed as a songwriter and core member of the band Dirty Projectors. It instead marks the return […]
Pity Boy (out July 12th on Don Giovanni Records) is the new full-length by New York musician, Mal Blum. Simply put: Pity Boy is an album that examines the patterns that recur over the course of our lives and what happens when we try (and often fail) to break them. This is not a linear […]
At a recent performance, the host made the mistake of introducing Adia Victoria as an Americana artist. Victoria leaned into the microphone with a correction, “Adia Victoria does not sing Americana, Adia Victoria sings the blues.” From there, the artist let her guitar and powerful lyrics speak for her. After a self-released single that drew […]
Fennesz uses guitar and computer to create shimmering, swirling electronic sound of enormous range and complex musicality. “Imagine the electric guitar severed from cliché and all of its physical limitations, shaping a bold new musical language.” – (City Newspaper, USA). Christian Fennesz is known from his own particular musical world as well as his impeccable […]
Subatlantic, an indie rock band based in the Quad Cities, features Becca Rice–lead vocals, guitar, and keyboards; Adam Kaul–guitar; Phil Pracht–drums; and Sean Chapman–bass and cello. Subatlantic formed in 2008, released their first EP in May of 2015 on Bandcamp, and their new 12 song album, “Villains” is out now. With four musicians capable on […]
Daylight DIY at Trumpet Blossom Cafe Mission Creek’s FREE all-ages, rip-your-face-off showcase of underground acts from across the Midwest and beyond! Featuring local acts Father Christmas, Midwest Waves, and Function as well as St. Louis-based, RedBait! Artist Details RedBait RedBait did not come from a music scene, but instead from the ranks of St Louis activists […]
Lily DeTaeye‘s music combines the Black Keys’ grit with Brandi Carlile’s eloquent lyric-writing into one high energy show. She’s like if your neighborhood librarian rocked a blues harp in yellow overalls. You definitely don’t wanna miss her. DeTaeye is a Des Moines native, harmonica-wielding singer songwriter signed to Station 1 Records. After the release of […]
Why Bonnie started life as the bedroom recording project of Blair Howerton. The group has grown into a quartet comprised of Kendall Powell, Sam Houdek, and Chance Williams. They’ve released their first two EPs, In Water and Nightgown, via Sports Day Records. Why Bonnie is currently gearing up for a much anticipated release in 2020, […]
KRUI 89.7 FM TURNS 40!! Celebrate four decades of UIOWA college radio at our 40th Birthday Bash! Mark your calendars for Saturday, April 6th for our celebration in collaboration with Mission Creek featuring live music from OHYUNG and Blist Her Main KRUI anniversary begins at 3:00 pm (w/ cake!) Doors open for concert at 4:30 […]
Already celebrated as the “Heart of Chicago’s Music Community” (Noisey) by both fans and tastemakers alike, OHMME (aka the duo of Sima Cunningham and Macie Stewart) amalgamate the aggressive and the meditative on their bold debut full-length album, Parts. Still in their 20s, Stewart and Cunningham are both classically trained musicians and are established players […]
The Minks are Nashville’s “psychedelic-bloos” band, heavy on the rock and roll. We’re talking low-down, all the way, purse-lipped, eyes-shut, head-whirling kind of rock and roll. The band’s palpable sound has roots in every music fan’s top ten—from Lou to Patti to Creedence to Hank. Mixed with raw, jangly instrumentation and soulful saccharine vocals, it’s […]
On her debut album ALONE AT LAST, Tasha celebrates the radical political act of being exquisitely gentle with yourself. For years, the Chicago songwriter has dreamed hard of a better world — she’s worked with the local racial justice organization BLACK YOUTH PROJECT 100 and has been on the front lines at protests around the […]
Columbia, Missouri trio The Hooten Hallers are a high-energy blues-rock band known for hard-traveling and wild live shows, with a seemingly endless tour schedule. The myriad of influences in their music incorporates elements of rhythm & blues, rock’n’roll, honky tonk, jazz, soul, and punk with a thematic penchant for the strange and the unexplained. Their […]
With a sultry and intoxicating voice, Elizabeth Moen lures you in. Paired with introspective lyrics that echo both bitter and sweet, her music will captivate you then stay with you. “Moen is one of those rare artists whose voice, from the first moment you hear it, consumes your entire being, doing away with all previous […]
Spectral Snake is the musical project of Angela Barr and Brooks Strause, devised as a way to tell fantastical horror stories about “real”-life darkness, packaged in subtle, elegant songs. Multi-instrumentalists Barr and Strause (along with an ever-growing gang of collaborators) create eerily beautiful sounds that have been described as the folk music of an alien […]
Dog Dave is a two-piece alternative folk punk band from Iowa City featuring John Quijas on drums and Adelina Reels on guitar and vocals. They perform songs with themes ranging from cats to cars.
Aseethe remains one of the most distinctive and relentless forces in heavy music operating today. Through their ability to constantly evolve and incorporate new sounds and disparate influences into their music, they stand at the vanguard of forward thinking bands like labelmates The Body and SUMAC. Throes is Aseethe at their most daring and focused, […]
Dacus uses her gift as a songwriter to help understand and cope with the world around her, including making sense of national holidays, often more geared towards social media boasts and manufactured consumerism than authentic celebration. “What is going on,” she asks herself on these days, retreating from the heightened expectations of holidays to figure […]
Dos Santos is a quintet just 5 years working in Chicago but already established as one of the city’s most potent, impactful performers. A band known to be at home in a broad spectrum of venues and contexts – as proficient at nailing epic progressive arrangements for summer street festivals in the Latinx culture hub […]
Squirrel Flower’s music is ethereal and warm, gushing with emotional depth that the listener can step into like a warm bath. The band on her new album, I Was Born Swimming, plays with delicate intention, keeping the arrangements natural and light. The album was tracked live, with few overdubs, at The Rare Book Room Studio […]
After studying avant-garde jazz and improvisation with jazz legend Anthony Braxton, Nat Baldwin started writing songs featuring double bass and vocals. Nat’s AUTONOMIA I: Body Without Organs represents a departure from the rich body of solo work he’s amassed as a songwriter and core member of the band Dirty Projectors. It instead marks the return […]
Pity Boy (out July 12th on Don Giovanni Records) is the new full-length by New York musician, Mal Blum. Simply put: Pity Boy is an album that examines the patterns that recur over the course of our lives and what happens when we try (and often fail) to break them. This is not a linear […]
At a recent performance, the host made the mistake of introducing Adia Victoria as an Americana artist. Victoria leaned into the microphone with a correction, “Adia Victoria does not sing Americana, Adia Victoria sings the blues.” From there, the artist let her guitar and powerful lyrics speak for her. After a self-released single that drew […]
Fennesz uses guitar and computer to create shimmering, swirling electronic sound of enormous range and complex musicality. “Imagine the electric guitar severed from cliché and all of its physical limitations, shaping a bold new musical language.” – (City Newspaper, USA). Christian Fennesz is known from his own particular musical world as well as his impeccable […]
Literary magazines and independent publishers from around the block and across the country will set up shop at The Mill in Iowa City for the 9th year in a row. Representing some of the most exciting work in publishing today, this free, day-long event features The Sun, Two Dollar Radio, Sarabande, Canarium Books, Rose Metal Press, Nomadic Press, Prompt Press, The Iowa Review, and many more literary up-and-comers as well as indie lit mainstays.
Join us for the Iowa City Expo for Comics and Real Eclectic Media (ICE CREAM) fair presenting the work of cartoonists, zinesters, and art books / handmade book artists. Vendors TBA.
What makes a poem in translation? Are human translators still needed in the age of auto-translate technology? Experiment with sound and translation—and craft a sonic poem of your own—in this nontraditional workshop for non-translators and monolinguists.
Debut Two Dollar Radio author Sarah Rose Etter (The Book of X) and established author Matt Bell (Appleseed, Scrapper)—who first published work with small presses such as Willows Wept, Keyhole, and Mudluscious—will read together in the Indie Showcase at Prairie Lights Bookstore.
Garth Greenwell reads from Cleanness, the highly anticipated follow-up to his beloved debut What Belongs to You, alongside Paul Lisicky, author of the acclaimed memoir The Narrow Door as well as his newest book, Later.
Essayist and poet Hanif Abdurraqib and musician Adia Victoria team up for a reading followed by a discussion of their work, including poetry, prose, lyrics, and musical composition.
Co-presented by the National Book Foundation, the Saturday Keynote Reading caps off the day's rich literary offerings and features National Book Award finalist Helen Phillips, award-winning poet Tommy Pico, and graphic essayist Kristen Radtke.
Aseethe remains one of the most distinctive and relentless forces in heavy music operating today. Through their ability to constantly evolve and incorporate new sounds and disparate influences into their music, they stand at the vanguard of forward thinking bands like labelmates The Body and SUMAC. Throes is Aseethe at their most daring and focused, […]
Literary magazines and independent publishers from around the block and across the country will set up shop at The Mill in Iowa City for the 9th year in a row. Representing some of the most exciting work in publishing today, this free, day-long event features The Sun, Two Dollar Radio, Sarabande, Canarium Books, Rose Metal Press, Nomadic Press, Prompt Press, The Iowa Review, and many more literary up-and-comers as well as indie lit mainstays.
Join us for the Iowa City Expo for Comics and Real Eclectic Media (ICE CREAM) fair presenting the work of cartoonists, zinesters, and art books / handmade book artists. Vendors TBA.
Daylight DIY at Trumpet Blossom Cafe Mission Creek’s FREE all-ages, rip-your-face-off showcase of underground acts from across the Midwest and beyond! Featuring local acts Father Christmas, Midwest Waves, and Function as well as St. Louis-based, RedBait! Artist Details RedBait RedBait did not come from a music scene, but instead from the ranks of St Louis activists […]
Subatlantic, an indie rock band based in the Quad Cities, features Becca Rice–lead vocals, guitar, and keyboards; Adam Kaul–guitar; Phil Pracht–drums; and Sean Chapman–bass and cello. Subatlantic formed in 2008, released their first EP in May of 2015 on Bandcamp, and their new 12 song album, “Villains” is out now. With four musicians capable on […]
Garth Greenwell reads from Cleanness, the highly anticipated follow-up to his beloved debut What Belongs to You, alongside Paul Lisicky, author of the acclaimed memoir The Narrow Door as well as his newest book, Later.
Lily DeTaeye‘s music combines the Black Keys’ grit with Brandi Carlile’s eloquent lyric-writing into one high energy show. She’s like if your neighborhood librarian rocked a blues harp in yellow overalls. You definitely don’t wanna miss her. DeTaeye is a Des Moines native, harmonica-wielding singer songwriter signed to Station 1 Records. After the release of […]
Why Bonnie started life as the bedroom recording project of Blair Howerton. The group has grown into a quartet comprised of Kendall Powell, Sam Houdek, and Chance Williams. They’ve released their first two EPs, In Water and Nightgown, via Sports Day Records. Why Bonnie is currently gearing up for a much anticipated release in 2020, […]
Already celebrated as the “Heart of Chicago’s Music Community” (Noisey) by both fans and tastemakers alike, OHMME (aka the duo of Sima Cunningham and Macie Stewart) amalgamate the aggressive and the meditative on their bold debut full-length album, Parts. Still in their 20s, Stewart and Cunningham are both classically trained musicians and are established players […]
The Minks are Nashville’s “psychedelic-bloos” band, heavy on the rock and roll. We’re talking low-down, all the way, purse-lipped, eyes-shut, head-whirling kind of rock and roll. The band’s palpable sound has roots in every music fan’s top ten—from Lou to Patti to Creedence to Hank. Mixed with raw, jangly instrumentation and soulful saccharine vocals, it’s […]
Columbia, Missouri trio The Hooten Hallers are a high-energy blues-rock band known for hard-traveling and wild live shows, with a seemingly endless tour schedule. The myriad of influences in their music incorporates elements of rhythm & blues, rock’n’roll, honky tonk, jazz, soul, and punk with a thematic penchant for the strange and the unexplained. Their […]
Aseethe remains one of the most distinctive and relentless forces in heavy music operating today. Through their ability to constantly evolve and incorporate new sounds and disparate influences into their music, they stand at the vanguard of forward thinking bands like labelmates The Body and SUMAC. Throes is Aseethe at their most daring and focused, […]