Barnes & Noble chose UI alum and writer Jerry Gabriel as the 2010 Discover Great New Writers Award finalist for his collection of short stories titled Drowned Boy. “It’s a great honor,” Gabriel...

In a world in which photographers work in the digital fortress of computers, Kelli Connell enjoys working in a darkroom. “Sitting at a computer [editing photos] holds a little less magic,” she said. The...

Think of a singing penis, a Heisman Trophy, and a comb phone. Think Poona the F*ckdog. “It’s so over the top,” codirector and actor Brian Tanner said, describing the play. “But it seemed like...

The experience of being on tour has definitely been interesting for Velvet Davenport — even if it hasn’t been the most hygienic. “You just have to get to a place, play music, and have fun,” said...

Watching porn has never been on my list of things to do before I die. However, when the UI put its foot down on the Bijou last week for its scheduled Disco Dolls in Hot Skin in 3-D, I was actually a wee...

For writer Karen Leona Anderson, poetry and science go hand-in-hand. She wrote her dissertation at Cornell University on the two subjects and researched bees for her latest collection of poems, titled...

Following a musical in the fall, Kirkwood Community College students will experiment in drama and farce in a dark comedic production. House of Blue Leaves will be produced three times, beginning Friday...

While the works of British, German, and American composers are easy to find in Iowa, music from other locales may at times be less prominent. This weekend, the YL Male Voice Choir, a Finnish group, will...

Devotion can come in many forms. For some, including female Hindi ascetics, it can mean sacrificing a typical life in the name of religious adherence. Antoinette DeNapoli, a visiting professor of Asian...

If President Obama ever suffered a loss of words, Honest Abe’s legacy could act as a tag team and spring into the ring. “The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present,” President...

SWISHER— The trio standing in the Cedar Ridge Winery in Swisher created quite the visual contrast. The first two men to speak — Hancher executive director Charles Swanson and music director for Orchestra...

Investigative journalist Jeff Biggers is not a big fan of coal. Having his family’s ancestral home of Eagle Creek, Ill., razed to make way for coal production, Biggers found no other way to illustrate...