Imagine sitting in Prairie Lights Books listening to Kurt Vonnegut read the first chapter of Slaughterhouse-Five. His slow, measured speech would begin: “All this happened, more or less …”
Soon, bibliophiles will be able to see what a day in the life of Vonnegut — and other famous writers from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop — might have been like.
A new project by graduate students and faculty from numerous UI departments will use audio, video clips, maps, and photos from some favorite writers’ time in Iowa City to recreate scenes from their lives.
“We’re looking for ways to promote literature and writing in Iowa City,” said Jon Winet, the director of the UI Virtual Writing University.
The free iPhone application will highlight places such as Vonnegut’s favorite bars, the church Flannery O’Connor attended, and countless other local places writers in the program frequented throughout its more than 70 years.
Lauren Haldeman, a content-developer for the application, said students, writers, and community members alike can use the application to learn more about the everyday lives of their favorite Workshop authors.
“It’s the very small moments of a person’s life that make them who they are,” she said.
The idea to develop an application came after the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization named Iowa City a City of Literature in 2008.
Winet said he is excited about the opportunity to combine numerous forms of media in the application.
“We can focus some existing archives and form them into an accessible platform,” he said.
Joe Williams, a graduate fellow in the School of Library and Information Science, is developing and organizing the content for use on the iPhone and other mobile devices.
He plans for the program to be compatible with other mobile devices and computers, he said.
He has enjoyed learning about Iowa City’s writing tradition in the two years since he finished his undergraduate work at Iowa State University, he said.
“The best part is getting to know the history these spectacular authors have in the city,” Williams said.
Winet said a preliminary version will be available for downloading before the end of the year, but he expects the content will continually be changing.
“The program will never be complete because scores of authors graduate every year,” he said. “And the cool thing about electronic publishing is that it doesn’t have to be published once.”
Haldeman said she is beginning to realize how interrelated the lives of many authors were.
“When you start to research one author, you find out many dimensions of others,” said Haldeman, whose decision to enter the UI as an undergraduate was because of the Writers’ Workshop.
The application will be a free download for iPhone users, with funding coming from the Graduate College and research grants awarded to help create the application, Winet said.