John Winslow Irving is an American-Canadian novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter.
Iowa City is the county seat and largest city of Johnson County, Iowa, United States. At the time of the 2020 census the population was 74,828, making it the state's fifth-most populous city. The Iowa City metropolitan area, which encompasses Johnson and Washington counties, has a population of over 171,000. The metro area is also a part of a combined statistical area with the Cedar Rapids metro area known as the Iowa City-Cedar Rapids region which collectively has a population of nearly 500,000.
Grant DeVolson Wood was an American artist and representative of Regionalism, best known for his paintings depicting the rural American Midwest. He is particularly well known for American Gothic (1930), which has become an iconic example of early 20th-century American art.
Christopher James Paolini is an American author. He is best known for The Inheritance Cycle, which consists of the books Eragon (2002), Eldest (2005), Brisingr (2008), Inheritance (2011), and the follow-up short story collection The Fork, the Witch, and the Worm (2018). His first science fiction novel, To Sleep in a Sea of Stars, was published on September 15, 2020. He lives in Paradise Valley, Montana, where he wrote his first book.
Clifford Michael Irving was an American novelist and investigative reporter. Although he published 20 novels, he is best known for an "autobiography" allegedly written as told to Irving by billionaire recluse Howard Hughes. The fictional work was to have been published in 1972. After Hughes denounced him and sued the publisher, McGraw-Hill, Irving and his collaborators confessed to the hoax. He was sentenced to two and a half years in prison, of which he served 17 months.
Carl Van Vechten was an American writer and artistic photographer who was a patron of the Harlem Renaissance and the literary executor of Gertrude Stein. He gained fame as a writer, and notoriety as well, for his 1926 novel Nigger Heaven. In his later years, he took up photography and took many portraits of notable people. Although he was married to women for most of his adult years, Van Vechten engaged in numerous homosexual affairs over his lifetime.
Lan Samantha Chang is an American novelist and short story writer. She is the author of The Family Chao (2022) and short story collection Hunger. For her fiction, which explores Chinese American experiences, she is a recipient of the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, the Berlin Prize, the PEN/Open Book Award and the Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers' Award.
Paul Hamilton Engle, was an American poet, editor, teacher, literary critic, novelist, and playwright. He is remembered as the long-time director of the Iowa Writers' Workshop and as co-founder of the International Writing Program (IWP), both at the University of Iowa.
James Hynes is an American novelist.
Nathan Englander is an American short story writer and novelist. His debut short story collection, For the Relief of Unbearable Urges, was published by Alfred A. Knopf, in 1999. His second collection, What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank, won the 2012 Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.
The World According to Garp is a 1982 American comedy-drama film produced and directed by George Roy Hill and starring Robin Williams in the title role. Written by Steve Tesich, it is based on the 1978 novel of the same title by John Irving. For their roles, John Lithgow and Glenn Close were respectively nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role and Best Actress in a Supporting Role at the 55th Academy Awards.
Mary Cennamo Robison is an American short story writer and novelist. She has published four collections of stories, and four novels, including her 2001 novel Why Did I Ever, winner of the 2001 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for fiction. Her most recent novel, released in 2009, is One D.O.A., One on the Way. She has been categorized as a founding "minimalist" writer along with authors such as Amy Hempel, Frederick Barthelme, and Raymond Carver. In 2009, she won the Rea Award for the Short Story.
Bert Leston Taylor was an American columnist, humorist, poet, and author.
Uwem Akpan is a Nigerian writer. He is known as the author of Say You're One of Them (2008), a collection of five stories published by Little, Brown & Company. His debut book achieved international success.
Denise Dorrance is an American-born cartoonist and illustrator who publishes under the name Dorrance.
Ruth Suckow was an American writer from Iowa. She wrote novels and stories.
Dan Wakefield was an American novelist, journalist, and screenwriter.
Matthew McIntosh is an American writer known for his 2003 novel Well. His second novel, theMystery.doc, was published in 2017.
Caren Lissner is an American novelist, essayist, and newspaper editor. Her published novels include Carrie Pilby (2003) and Starting from Square Two (2004).
Kaveh Akbar is an Iranian-American writer.
