Public Writing, Public Libraries

This May, writers attending Grin City Collective Artist & Writers Residency will install brand-new public art — works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry — in the windows of 12 Iowa libraries.

The four authors, Pauliina Haasjoki (Helsinki, Finland), Kevin Haworth (Athens, Ohio), Molly Rideout (Grinnell, Iowa), and Purvi Shah (Brooklyn, New York), worked closely with library staff to select theme, subject, and genre for the work to be installed.

Each of these authors will read from their work and talk about their careers and process in May's "Public Writing, Public Libraries" reading series.

• Shah will read at 9 p.m. May 11 at Grinnell College's Burling Library and at 2 p.m. at Marshalltown Public Library.
• Haajoki will read at 1:30 p.m. May 11 at Knoxville Public Library.
• Haworth will read at 7 p.m. May 7 at Coralville Public Library and at 6:30 p.m., May 12 at North Liberty Community Library.
• Rideout will read at 6:30 p.m. May 11 at Newton Public Library.

With their broad range of genres, styles, and cultural backgrounds, the authors each took a different approach to their three partnered libraries

The Authors

Purvi Shah (Brooklyn, New York)

Installed in: Grinnell College Burling Library, Cedar Falls Public Library, Marshalltown Public Library

Shah's poetry will speak directly to each of her partnered communities. The winner of the SONY South Asian Social Service Excellence Award will meet with community members and library staff before composing unique poems for Cedar Falls and Marshalltown Public Libraries and Grinnell College. To better reach Marshalltown's diverse community, that library's poem will be installed in English, Spanish and Burmese. Poetry's accessibility is very important to Shah, who immigrated to America from India as a child.

Pauliina Haasjoki (Helsinki, Finland)

Installed in: Pella, Knoxville, and Waterloo public libraries

Haasjoki's poetry has been translated into seven different languages. Patrons will enjoy poems in both English and her native Finnish. Haasjoki, who has published several books of poetry, developed her poems during her travels in Australia and Iowa.

Kevin Haworth (Athens, Ohio)

Installed in: North Liberty, Coralville, and Tama public libraries

Haworth, author of the Samuel Goldberg Foundation Prize-winning novel "The Discontinuity of Small Things," selected excerpts from his forthcoming personal essay, "Vivaldi," which he wrote last spring at Grin City Collective.

The full essay follows three narratives:

• the story of Haworth's time living in Jerusalem,
• his young son's journey learning to play the cello, and
• the history of Jewish musicians conscripted into the Auschwitz orchestra.

Molly Rideout (Grinnell, Iowa)

Installed in: Newton, Toledo, and Cedar Rapids public libraries

Patrons will enjoy micro-fiction and personal essays by Grin City Collective's co-director, writer Molly Rideout. Rather than selecting excerpts from a larger piece, Rideout chose short, original, unpublished stories for each community to enjoy in their entirety.

"Public Writing, Public Libraries"

"Public Writing, Public Libraries" is a program of Grin City Collective Artist & Writers Residency. Hosting more than 45 visiting artists and writers each year, Grin City provides artists with time, space and the tools they need to make creative work with a direct impact on Iowa.

"The talent of our visiting artists have a direct impact on our community," Rideout says. "We support the inception of over 50 artist projects a year. Select projects, like 'Public Writing, Public Libraries,' have a lasting effect for Iowa. Then our visiting artists and writers return home to New York or Montana or Perth, Australia, and continue building community with their work. The impact is global, but it starts right here."

All literary art installations will be available for public enjoyment by the end of May and will remain for the next one to four years. Those wishing to visit all participating libraries can purchase the final booklet highlighting each location and its partnering writer. Booklets will be available in July.

"Public Writing, Public Libraries" is made possible thanks to the generous support of Grinnell College, Martha-Ellen Tye Foundation, ACT Inc., Vermeer Corporation, Friends of the Cedar Falls Public Library, Friends of the Waterloo Public Library, Friends of the Newton Public Library, The Arts Connection Inc., and Coralville Public Library. Design and printing costs for the final publication are sponsored by Grinnell College.