Events Calendar

The Iowa City Book Festival presents Donika Kelly and Melissa Febos, who will read from their work.

2015 Cave Canem Poetry Prize winner and 2016 National Book Award long-listed poet Donika Kelly will read from Bestiary: Poems. 

“What a gorgeous book of poems. The love poems, in particular, are striking with unexpected ideas and imagery coalescing into poetry about this thing called love. . . . This one, I savored.” ?Roxane Gay

Donika Kelly’s poems have appeared in Hayden's Ferry Review, Indiana Review, and West Branch. She is currently a lecturer in the Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies Program at the University of California, Davis. 

Melissa Febos will read from her work.

“Febos brings a relentless curiosity and startling intimacy to the page . . . With her careful observations and introspection, she transcends isolation and captures the boundless nature of human emotion.” —LAMBDA Literary

Febos is the author of the acclaimed memoir Whip Smart and the essay collection Abandon Me, which was a LAMBDA Literary Award finalist, a Publishing Triangle Award finalist, an Indie Next Pick, and was widely named a best book of 2017. Her third book, Girlhood, is forthcoming from Bloomsbury in 2021. She is an associate professor and graduate director at Monmouth University

The Iowa City Book Festival will take place at various venues in Iowa City and Coralville from Sept, 30 through Oct. 6. For a full schedule of events, visit the Iowa City Book Festival website.