How do politics affect what poets or novelists write, and even how they write it? How does literature inform political discourse? What is cultural diplomacy, why is it so important, and what is the UI’s role in promoting it?

For this inaugural event in the Obermann Center’s new Counterpoint public conversation series, Christopher Merrill — poet, nonfiction writer, translator, editor, and director of the UI’s renowned International Writing Program — and Loren Glass, a historian of creative writing...

The Obermann Interdisciplinary Research Grants (IDRG) foster collaborative scholarship and creative work by offering recipients time and space to exchange new ideas leading to invention, creation, and publication. IDRG groups work at the Obermann Center for two or four weeks, usually in July and/or August. Applicants propose work on a project with colleagues from across the University, across disciplines within their own department, or with colleagues from other parts of the country or the world...

Join us for a panel discussion exploring the power of art and information in the face of censorship. This collaborative event by the Stanley Museum of Art, the Obermann Center for Advanced Studies, and the Iowa City Public Library will explore the enduring impact of Keith Haring's work in the fight against HIV/AIDS. We'll discuss the historical and contemporary implications of banned books on sexual health and the importance of unrestricted access to information.

Panel members:
• Saba Vlach...

Scholarly and creative research activity is a linchpin of faculty life at the University of Iowa. International collaboration has been demonstrated to boost the visibility and impact of research. This webinar will focus on the challenges and rewards of international scholarship, including cross-national research collaborations, grant proposals, ways to promote research to domestic and international audiences, the opportunities and potential pitfalls of publishing in non-US journals, and tactics...

Co-sponsored by the Obermann Center for Advanced Studies and the Office of the Vice President for Research, Books Ends—Obermann/OVPR Book Completion Workshop supports University of Iowa faculty from disciplines in which publishing a monograph is required for tenure and promotion. The award is designed to assist faculty members in turning promising manuscripts into important, field-changing, published books.

Applications for upcoming Book Ends workshops are due Sept. 19, 2024 (5 p.m.).

The Mellon Foundation’s Sawyer Seminars program was established in 1994 to provide support for comparative research on historical and contemporary topics of scholarly significance. The seminars, named in honor of the Foundation’s long-serving third president, John E. Sawyer, bring together faculty, foreign visitors, postdoctoral fellows, and graduate students from a variety of fields — mainly, but not exclusively, in the arts, humanities, and interpretive social sciences — for intensive study of...