Iowa Almanac
Iowa Almanac -- Monday, September 16, 2024
a city of literature. More from the Iowa Almanac in a moment. Every detail matters when building a winning game plan. That's why the cyclones and Hawkeyes rely on better, cleaner now biodiesel to power their team buses on game day. Delivering success on the field, in the field, and in the environment. Make biodiesel part of your winning game plan by visiting IASOivians.com. Biodiesel, Grow It, Request It, Use It. This message brought to you by the Iowa Soybean Association and the Soybean Check-Off. The University of Iowa Writers Workshop was founded nearly 90 years ago, and has been home to thousands of talented writers. Its graduates include 17 Pulitzer Prize winners and eight recent U.S. poets laureate. That pioneering program in the teaching of creative writing led to dozens of creative programs within the university and the Iowa City community. One of the more recent is tied to UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. On September 16, 2008, the city and the university unveiled their joint proposal to designate Iowa City as one of the world's few cities of literature. It was shipped to the UNESCO office in Paris for consideration. Why Iowa City? Many say it's been a haven as well as a proving ground for writers, and the synergy between the writers and the institutions that have grown from them have created a unique identity for the city. Two months later, word came that UNESCO had designated Iowa City as the world's third city of literature, joining Edinburgh, Scotland and Melbourne, Australia. As then 39 other cities have earned the designation, including Dublin, Ireland, Reyevac, Iceland, Norwich, England and Krakow, Poland. The only other U.S. city is Seattle, Washington. The designation makes Iowa City part of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network to promote innovative growth and shared experiences worldwide. A successful application submitted on handmade paper with original calligraphy for Iowa City to become a world city of literature was submitted on this date in 2008. And that's Iowa Almanac for September 16. There's more online at IowaAlmanac.com. Until tomorrow, I'm Jeff Stein.