Graduate and faculty poets and fiction writers from UI’s Writers’ Workshop frequently visit schools and communities throughout Iowa. These talented writers are available for public readings, writing workshops for students of all ages, literary festivals and panel discussions, and more.

The Patient Voice Project

The Patient Voice Project offers creative writing classes to chronically-ill hospital patients. Created by students at the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop and Arts Share, the classes are free, conducted both in groups and one-on-one sessions, and intended for all ages. They can be designed to fit individual schedules and needs.

Student Artists

Shira Dentz

Shira Dentz's poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Colorado Review, Field, American Letters & Commentary, Chelsea, Seneca Review, Salt Hill Journal, The Journal, How2, Web del Sol, Gargoyle, Barrow Street, Luna, Diner, Phoebe, So to Speak, and Facture. Her fiction has been a semifinalist for the PEN/Nelson Algren Award and a finalist for the Heekin Foundation's Fellowship for short fiction. She is the recipient of the Electronic Poetry Review's Discovery Award, and the Poetry Society of America’s Lyric Poem Award, and was the finalist for PSA's Cecil Hemley Memorial Award. Her poetry has aired on National Public Radio, and has been featured on Poetry Daily. In addition, her manuscript has been a semifinalist for the Academy of American Poets' Walt Whitman Award. She has received fellowships from the Vermont Studio Center, the Ragdale Foundation, and MacDowell Arts Colony. She has worked as a graphic artist, copyeditor, and teacher in NYC and currently is in her second year at the Iowa Writers' Workshop.

Dina Hardy

Dina Hardy, the winner of the 2003 Erskine J. Poetry Prize, was also a finalist in the Poets & Writers California New Voices Contest.  Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Smartish Pace, Pool, and Runes. She has been anthologized in So Luminous the Wildflowers, and Mischief, Caprice and Other Poetic Strategies.  Dina grew up in the small town of LeRoy, New York, which is known as "The Birthplace of Jell-O".  Her permanent home is now Burbank, California. Dina is currently a second-year poetry student in the Writer’s Workshop.

Kristin Hatch

Kristin Hatch is a second-year poetry student in the UI Writers Workshop.  She teaches creative writing at the University of Iowa, and works at the Iowa City Public Library.  Her background involves work with various non-profit organizations, particularly focusing on crisis intervention with teenaged youth and their families.  She is excited to work with all age groups, in any writing genre.

April Kopp

A 2004 graduate of the University of Chicago, April Kopp is a Teaching-Writing Fellow in the Iowa Writers' Workshop. She works at the University Hygienic Laboratory and as a freelance nonfiction writer. Her poem, "A Covering," is posted all over Iowa City for the Poetry in Public Project.

Anjali Sachdeva

Anjali Sachdeva is a fiction writer starting her second year at the Iowa Writer's Workshop.  Before coming to the workshop she worked as a journalist at newspapers and magazines in Boston, Pittsburgh and Ireland.  She also worked as an assistant teacher in both elementary and high school English classes.  She loves working with students of all ages and had a great time participating in the Art Share program in 2005.

Zach Savich

Zach Savich is a second-year poetry student in the Writer’s Workshop. He received a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Washington, where he frequently taught creative writing classes in the Seattle Public Schools and at nearby tribal schools. He is happy to work with any age group.

Jane Wong
Jane Wong worked with middle schoolers at Solon. In addition to this she facilitated workshops for fifth graders at Bard, where she did her undergraduate studies; Jane is currently finishing up her first year in the Iowa Writers’ Workshop.

Sara Nicholson
Sara Nicholson is a poet about to graduate from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop.

Marisa Handler
Marisa Handler is a writer, activist, speaker, and singer-songwriter—is the author of Loyal to the Sky: Notes from an Activist, which won a 2008 Nautilus Gold Award for world-changing books. Her journalism has appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, the San Francisco Bay Guardian, Earth Island Journal, Salon.com, Alternet, and Tikkun, Orion, The Sun, and Bitch magazines. Marisa speaks and sings about visionary social change all over the country. Her first full-length album, Dark Spoke, was released in 2007. Marisa is currently an MFA candidate in Fiction at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop.

Joyce E. Turner
Joyce E. Turner earned her MFA in 2009 from the Iowa Writers' Workshop. Primarily a fiction writer, she is also available for nonfiction and poetry students. She has taught General Education Literature and Creative Writing Studio Workshop at the University of Iowa, and has served as an instructor in the Patient Voice Program. Her fiction has appeared in the literary journal Ploughshares and in Trucker's News. She earned a B.A. in Philosophy and Religion and a B.S. in General Biology from Winthrop University. She enjoys working with any age group.

Faculty Artists

James Galvin

Explore poetic technique through readings or workshops with UI Poetry Workshop faculty James Galvin. Mr. Galvin is the author of numerous poems and books of poetry--The Meadow (1992), Elements (1988), God's Mistress (1984) and Imaginary Timber (1981). Included in Esquire's December 1984 list of outstanding Americans under 40, he has taught such Poetry Workshop courses as Faulkner for Poets, The Poetry of Witness--The Function of Literal Truth in Poetry among others. Mr. Galvin is a graduate of the University of Iowa.