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Uljana Wolf's FALSE FRIENDS

Erica Mena

False Friends by Uljana Wolf, translated by Susan Bernofsky, is a delightful foray into language and poetry. Even for someone who has no knowledge of German, the playful shifts between the English translation and the German hinted at behind it are enlightening: both Bernofsky and Wolf clearly delight in the slipperiness of language and sound.

TIR vs. "The Boring Reading," Take Two!

Lynne Nugent

Where can you find state-fair ennui, unicorn horns, $3.99 wine, The Inferno, Guatemalan place names, picadilly relish, awkward class reunions, the only Honda Civic at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, and "the small days of living"?

The latest Iowa Review!

Come get a first glimpse of our Fall 2011 issue—to be unveiled that night—and hear authors read a sampling of their work and editors share inside stories from behind the slush pile.

All the details:

August 25, 2011
7:00 p.m.
Prairie Lights Bookstore
Featured readers: Eduardo Halfon (fiction), Kim Lozano (poetry), and Jenny Zhang (fiction)

Benjamin Hale's THE EVOLUTION OF BRUNO LITTLEMORE

David Frederick Thomas

Following the publication last August of Jonathan Franzen’s Freedom, there has been much debate concerning the merits of big, Dickensian works. The underlying question is simple: can rather traditional novels continue to do new and exciting things? Benjamin Hale’s debut, The Evolution of Bruno Littlemore, is just such a work; and, in short, the answer is yes.

Here’s the premise: Bruno Littlemore, a chimpanzee born in Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo, is the first non-human being to gain language. The Evolution of Bruno Littlemore is, ostensibly, Bruno’s memoir, dictated from where he sits in captivity for the murder of a man.

Wendy Call’s NO WORD FOR WELCOME

Clare Sullivan

Of all the attributes that set Latin America apart from its northern neighbors, perhaps none captivates quite like the regional tendency to put community before the individual. Few visitors to Latin America fail to observe the way the lives of so many Latin Americans interweave, and the way that interweaving expresses itself socially. If you’ve ever shared an afternoon meal in a Latin American home or enjoyed a dinner out until five in the morning, you’ve witnessed the way Latin Americans appreciate one another’s company. This spirit of camaraderie suffuses all levels of society, expressing itself in social customs, economics, and politics. It’s fair to wonder: is the communal spirit that keeps an Epiphany celebration going all night long the same that makes the region so resistant to globalization?

Game Night and the Writers' Workshop

Maggie Shipstead

This post is part of The 75th Project, a series of essays by graduates of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year.

“Game night?”

“Game night.”

“Epic game night?”

“I could do an epic game night.”

This is a conversation I had dozens of times during my second year at Iowa but will probably never have again.

It all started with Big Buck Hunter.

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