Coe Writers' Workshop Events

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writers' gallery

With help from a variety of sources, the English Department and the Writers' Workshop sponsor a program of visiting writers that brings student writers together with some of the best younger and established writers in America. In recent years, James Tate, ZZ Packer, Scott Rettberg, Mary Swander, Robley Wilson, Jane Smiley, Donald Justice, Mark Strand, Jorie Graham, T.C. Boyle, Robert Coover, Frank Conroy, William Stafford, Jayne Cortez, Ray Young Bear, and Ntozake Shange have been among the famous writers to visit Coe.

Each year the department awards the Paul Engle Creative Writing prize to the best portfolio sub-mitted by a junior or senior. Paul Engle, Coe '31, was a Rhodes Scholar, a poet, founder of the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop, and co-founder of the University of Iowa's International Writing Program.

The Writers' Workshop sponsors a series of Works-In-Progress (WIP) readings during each semester. Typically, we reserve Kesler Auditorium at four in the afternoon on a Tuesday or Thursday and do an open mike. Check this page periodically for actual dates and times.