Iowa City Arts: September

Grendel has asked me to join you blogging lot and I accepted willingly. At the beginning of each month, I'll post a list of events that grab my eye or pique my interest or shine my shoes--pick your metaphor. Mostly, I'll be pulling from here, here, and here. It's not like I possess some magic divining radar that tells me what's coming up the rest of you couldn't gather on your own. In fact, many of you are far more plugged-in to the university, especially, than I am. It just seems like it would be good to have a placeholder, a one-stop shop for upcoming events in Iowa City.

September Lectures

• Friday, 9.1.06, 4 p.m - Marilynne Robinson, "Beauty." 4 p.m. in the newly completed Frank Conroy Reading Room, the Dey House. This is part of the Writers' Workshop Lecture Series begun last year. If past lectures are any indication, you might want to get to this one early.
  
• Friday, 9.8.06, noon, - Ken Bugul from Senegal, Manju Sarkar from Bangladesh and Jagath Kumarasinghe from Sri Lanka, all writers in the International Writing Program, will sit on a panel at the Iowa City Pubic Library titled "Islam and We." Press release here. Check here for regular IWP lectures, readings, and presentations at the ICPL. (Note: there's some discrepancies in dates between the press release and the IWP events page. Contact the ICPL for accurate info.)
  
• Thursday, 9.14.06, 5 p.m. - David Carrier, art critic and historian, Room 116, Art Building West on the UI campus.
  

September Movies

• Thursday, 9.7.06, 7:30 - A screening of The Phantom of the Opera will be accompanied by the Alloy Ochrestra in Hancher Auditorium. $28-proceeds to benefit the Bijou Theater, a worthy cause. Follow the link for ticket info.
• Friday, 9.9, through Wednesday, 9.13 - Sydney Pollack's documentary Sketches of Frank Gehry; Russian Dolls, the sequel to L'Auberge Espagnole; and rocker Nick Cave's writing/directing debut The Proposition. Links for showtimes.
• Friday, 9.15, through Thursday, 9.21, - Taiwanese drama Three Times, Ed Norton and Evan Rachel Wood in Down in the Valley. Links for showtimes.
• Friday, 9.22, through Thursday, 9.28 - Get your outrage on: The War Tapes and Road to Guantanamo. Also showing that week as part of the Classics series, Graham Greene's Fallen Idol. Link to pdf for showtimes and descriptions.

September Readings (all at Prairie Lights unless otherwise indicated)

• Tuesday, 9.5, 7 p.m. - Mary Gaitskill
  
• Tuesday, 9.12, 7 p.m. - Tom Lutz
  
• Wednesday, 9.13, 7 p.m. - Wave Poetry Bus, a 50-city tour of poets featuring Anthony McCann, Cole Swenson, Mimi Khalvati, and others.
  
• Monday, 9.18, 7 p.m. - Sharon Weinberger
• Tuesday, 9.19, 7 p.m. - Jay Hopler
• Wednesday, 9.20, 7 p.m. - Brian Morton
  
• Monday, 9.25, 7 p.m. - Tom Drury
• Tuesday, 9.26, 7 p.m. - David Hamilton
  
• Wednesday, 9.27 7 p.m. - David Treuer

This list is by no means comprehensive. Just what I found particularly interesting and noteworthy. There are more readers than this at Prairie Lights in September. The full list can be found here. Scroll down into October for a couple surprises at the end of the month.

Hit up the comments for anything I've missed. See you back here October 1. Until then, I'm over at Creekside Review. Stop by.