Overview

"A vibrant history of the renowned and often controversial Iowa Writers' Workshop and its celebrated alumni and faculty As the world's preeminent creative writing program, the Iowa Writers' Workshop has produced an astonishing number of distinguished writers and poets since its establishment in 1936. Its alumni and faculty include twenty-eight Pulitzer Prize winners, six US poet laureates, and numerous National Book Award winners. This volume follows the program from its rise to prominence in the early 1940s under director Paul Engle, who promoted the ""workshop"" method of classroom peer criticism. Meant to simulate the rigors of editorial and critical scrutiny in the publishing industry, this educational style created an environment of both competition and community, cooperation and rivalry. Focusing on some of the exceptional authors who have participated in the program--such as Flannery O'Connor, Dylan Thomas, Kurt Vonnegut, Jane Smiley, Sandra Cisneros, T. C. Boyle, and Marilynne Robinson--David Dowling examines how the Iowa Writers' Workshop has shaped professional authorship, publishing industries, and the course of American literature."

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9781982685171

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Reviews

[An] ambitiously scaled narrative...focusing on the tricky balancing act of turning out writers equipped for both commercial and literary success. -- Publishers Weekly This book provides readers with a rich history of how the nation's most important writing program has had an outsized impact on American literary and commercial culture. -- David Blake, College of New Jersey

"""[An] ambitiously scaled narrative...focusing on the tricky balancing act of turning out writers equipped for both commercial and literary success."" -- ""Publishers Weekly"" ""This book provides readers with a rich history of how the nation's most important writing program has had an outsized impact on American literary and commercial culture."" -- ""David Blake, College of New Jersey"""

Author Information

"David O. Dowling is associate professor at the University of Iowa's School of Journalism and Mass Communication. His previous books include Literary Partnerships and the Marketplace and Emerson's Protégés. He lives in Iowa City, IA. Grover Gardner (a.k.a. Tom Parker) is an award-winning narrator with over a thousand titles to his credit. Named one of the ""Best Voices of the Century"" and a Golden Voice by AudioFile magazine, he has won three prestigious Audie Awards, was chosen Narrator of the Year for 2005 by Publishers Weekly, and has earned more than thirty Earphones Awards."

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