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The University of Iowa’s Magid Center for Undergraduate Writing is thrilled to announce Jia Tolentino as our 2019–2020 Visiting Writer-in-Residence. Jia is a staff writer at The New Yorker and the author of the critically acclaimed essay collection Trick Mirror (recently named one of the most notable books of the year by The New York Times and a finalist for the National Book Critic Circle’s prize for best first book). Formerly, she was the deputy editor of Jezebel and contributing editor at The Hairpin.

PRAISE for Jia tolentino and trick mirror

“The millennial Susan Sontag, a brilliant voice in cultural criticism. . . She writes like a dream.”—The Washington Post

“It isn’t hyperbolic to say that New Yorker staff writer Jia Tolentino could be the Joan Didion of our time…”—Vulture

“Tolentino is among our age’s finest essayists, dissecting the foibles that animate our modern lives with wit, intellectual rigor, and empathy.”—Esquire

Jia will be on The University of Iowa campus for two public events:

• Public Reading – Tuesday, February 18^th, 2020
  • 7:00 PM, Prairie Lights Bookstore

• Public Q&A – Thursday, February 20^th, 2020
  • 10:30 AM, Dey House, Frank Conroy Reading Room

The Magid Center for Undergraduate Writing takes seriously its mission to offer all undergraduate students at the University of Iowa (regardless of major or area of study) the unique opportunity to enhance their academic, creative, and professional communication skills by focusing on the written word. In addition to sponsoring the Certificate in Writing, the center also publishes the student literary magazines Ink Lit Mag and Earthwords, advises and coordinates the publication of  Fools Magazine and Boundless; supports the Iowa Writers Living-Learning Community (in association with University Housing and Dining); and is home to the Iowa Youth Writing Project (a nonprofit K-12 literacy outreach endeavor), the Iowa Young Writers' Studio (a selective summer camp for aspiring high school writers), and the Iowa Summer Writing Festival (a noncredit, open enrollment creative writing program for adult learners).