Kaveh Akbar in conversation

Name: Kaveh Akbar in conversation
Start: 2025-09-19T17:30:00-05:00
Location: 93 E Burlington St, Iowa City, IA 52242-1500, United States

Schedule

Fri, 19 Sep, 2025 at 05:30 pm

UTC-05:00

Location

93 E Burlington St, Iowa City, IA 52242-1500, United States | Iowa City, IA

Free and open to the public, registration recommended
Registration will go live Wednesday, July 9 at 10:00 a.m.
Friday, September 19, 2025, 5:30 pm

Part of Hancher's Infinite Dream festival
Presented in collaboration with @uicreativematters
Part of Hancher's 53rd season
Presented in collaboration with University of Iowa Center for Advancement, University of Iowa Lecture Committee, University of Iowa Vice President for Research Creative Matter Series, Iowa Writers' Workshop and the Nonfiction Writing Program
A renowned author and UI professor considers the range of voices that define America.
University of Iowa Literary Legend Kaveh Akbar is an acclaimed poet and author of Martyr!, a National Book Award finalist for fiction. He is also an Iowa City community member as well as a professor and director of the Undergraduate English and Creative Writing major at the University of Iowa. He will read from his work and reflect upon the transformative power of language, the tensions between optimism and reckoning, and the role of art in envisioning a more just and imaginative future.
Daniel Khalastchi, who will moderate the event, has recently been named the executive director of the University of Iowa’s Office of Writing and Communication. He is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and a celebrated poet. He has been on staff at the university since 2011 and helped establish the UI’s Magid Center for Writing.
Note: Author and scholar Eve L. Ewing was originally scheduled to participate in this event but had to cancel for personal reasons.
“So stunning, so wrenching, and so beautifully written that reading it for the first time, I kept forgetting to breathe. I will carry this story, and the people in it, with me for the rest of my life.” – John Green on Kaveh Akbar’s Martyr!
Learn more at https://hancher.uiowa.edu/2025-26/kaveh-akbar?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=ui_events_calendar&utm_campaign=2526_kavehakbar&utm_content=2526_infinitedream