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Celebration of Literary Arts

Celebration of Literary Arts Festival​

The Celebration of Literary Arts Festival was initiated at DMACC in conjunction with the National Poetry Festival. The purpose of this celebration is to bring noted fiction and poetry writers to DMACC to read their works and interact with students. Central to the festival is the idea that writers can be published and that one can indeed make a living as a professional writer. In addition to reading on campus, writers have evening reading at a local bookstore. Each year the writers read at Beaverdale Books in Des Moines.

2025 Events

Jess Walter

Jess Walter

Jess Walter is the award-winning, best-selling author of eight novels, two books of short stories and one nonfiction book. His work has been translated into 34 languages, and his fiction has been selected three times for Best American Short Stories, as well as the O. Henry Prize, the Pushcart Prize, Best American Nonrequired Reading and Best American Mystery and Suspense. His stories, essays, criticism and journalism have appeared in Harper's, Esquire, Playboy, McSweeney's, Tin House, Ploughshares, the New York Times, the Washington Post and many others.

Walter began his writing career in 1987 as a reporter for his hometown newspaper, The Spokesman-Review. He was a finalist for the 1992 Pulitzer Prize as part of a team covering the shootout and standoff at Ruby Ridge, in Northern Idaho. This became the subject of Walter's first book, Every Knee Shall Bow, in 1995. He has also worked as a screenwriter and has taught graduate creative writing at the University of Iowa, Pacific University, Eastern Washington University and Pacific Lutheran University.

Walter was a finalist for the National Book Award in 2006 for The Zero, and won the 2005 Edgar Allan Poe Award for Citizen Vince. He has twice won the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Award, for The Zero and We Live in Water, won the Washington State Book Award for The Cold Millions, and was a finalist for the L.A. Times Book Prize (The Zero) and the PEN/USA Award in both fiction (The Zero) and nonfiction (Every Knee Shall Bow). His novel Beautiful Ruins was a #1 New York Times bestseller and spent more than a year on the bestseller list. It was also Esquire's Book of the Year and NPR Fresh Air's Novel of the Year. The Financial Lives of the Poets was Time Magazine's#2 novel of the year and Walter's story collection, We Live in Water, was listed by former U.S. President Barack Obama on his best books of 2019 and was longlisted for the Story Prize and the Frank O'Connor Short Story Award.

Walter and his wife, Anne, live in Spokane, Washington

Selected Writing:

Thursday, September 11, 2025
11:15 a.m.
Ankeny Campus
Building 2, Room 25B

2025 Authors

Previous Celebration of Literary Arts Festivals

2019 Festival

Authors

  • Jericho Brown, Poet
  • Dorothy Allison
  • Jamel Brinkley, Stanford University
  • Maggie Smith, Ohio Wesleyan University

 

Iowa Writers

  • Grant Faulkner, Executive Director, National Novel Writing Month
  • Jennifer Colville, Prompt Press
  • Jacob Dawson, Iowa State University
  • John Domini, AWP: Associated Writing Programs
  • Lauren Haldeman, University of Iowa
  • Kim Magowan, Mills College
  • Lettie Prell, SFWA: Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America
  • Steve Rose, Simpson College, Professor Emeritus
  • Michelle N. Ross, Fiction Editor, Atticus Review

2018 Festival

Authors

  • Pam Houston, University of California, Davis
  • Justin Torres, University of California, Los Angeles
  • Jennifer Chang, George Washington University
  • Matthew Olzmann, Warren Wilson MFA Program

 

Iowa Writers

  • Dean Bakopoulos, Grinnell College
  • Alissa Nutting, Grinnell College
  • Chloe Clark, Iowa State University
  • George Barlow, Grinnell College
  • Claire Kruesel, Iowa State University
  • Jennifer Wilson, St. Martin’s Press
  • Ryan Collins, St. Ambrose University
  • Paula Smith, Grinnell College
  • Michaela Mullin, Nomadic Press
  • Emma Murray, Gold Wake Press​​​​

2017 Festival

Authors

  • Charles Baxter, University of Minnesota
  • Kevin Brockmeier, Iowa Writers’ Workshop
  • Megan Mayhew Bergman, Bennington College
  • Charles D'Ambrosio, Iowa Writers’ Workshop
  • Tarfia Faizullah, University of Michigan
  • Oliver de la Paz, College of the Holy Cross

 

Iowa Writers

  • Devon Walker-Figueroa, Iowa Writer's Workshop/Poetry Editor Iowa Review
  • Ralph James Savarese, Grinnell College
  • Molly McDonald, Iowa State University
  • Rick Christman, DMACC, Professor Emeritus
  • Hai-Dang Phan, Grinnell College
  • Ned Balbo, Iowa State University
  • Calla Devlin, Young Adult Novelist​​​

2016 Festival

Authors

  • Matt Bell, Arizona State University
  • Robin Balck, Rutgers University-Camden, MFA Program
  • Kevin Prufer, University of Houston
  • Ada Limon, Queens University of Charlotte, Low Residency MFA

 

Iowa Writers

  • Tim Bascom, Waldorf College
  • Paul Brooke, Grand View University
  • Meg Johnson, Iowa State University
  • Jennifer L. Knox, Iowa State University
  • Magogodi Makhene, Iowa Writer's Workshop
  • Ralph James Savarese, Grinnell College​​​

2015 Festival

Authors

  • Bret Anthony Johnston, Harvard University
  • Makkai, Sierra Nevada College
  • Roger Reeves, University of Illinois, Chicago
  • Rebecca Hazelton, Oklahoma State University

 

Iowa Writers

  • Barbara Haas, Iowa State University
  • Christiana Langenberg, Iowa State University
  • Kyle McCord, Grand View University
  • Sarah Smith, Iowa Writers' Workshop
  • Grant Tracey, University of Northern Iowa​​

2014 Festival

Authors

  • Laura van den Berg, Emerson College
  • Evie Shockley, Rutgers University
  • Alan Heathcock, Boise State University
  • Ross Gay, Indiana University

 

Iowa Writers

  • Jim O'Loughlin, University of Northern Iowa
  • Kali VanBaale, Drake University
  • Hannah Loeb, Iowa Writers' Workshop
  • Larry Baker, Kirkwood Community College
  • K.L. Cook, Iowa State University
  • Charissa Menefee, Iowa State University​​

2013 Festival

Authors

  • Kyle Minor, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)
  • Ron Carlson, University of California, Irvine
  • Caitlin Horrocks, Grand Valley State University
  • Aimee Nezhukumatathil, State University of New York
  • Matthew Dickman, Vermont College of Fine Arts

 

Iowa Writers

  • Mary Swander, Iowa State University
  • Jeremy Schraffenberger, University of Northern Iowa
  • Heather Derr-Smith, Iowa State University
  • David Wolf, Simpson College
  • Deborah Kennedy, Iowa Writers' Workshop
  • Winifred Moranville, Simpson College​

2012 Festival

Authors

  • Charles D'Ambrosio
  • Danielle Evans
  • Dorianne Laux
  • Joseph Millar

 

Iowa Writers

  • David Zimmerman, Iowa State University
  • Grant Tracey, University of Northern Iowa
  • Jennifer Perrine, Drake University
  • Neal Bowers, Iowa State University
  • May Letter, Drake University
  • Vince Gotera, University of Northern Iowa​

2011 Festival

Authors

  • Antonya Nelson, University of Houston
  • Steven Schwartz, Colorado State University
  • Denise Duhamel, Florida International University
  • Dale Young, Warren Wilson MFA Program

 

Iowa Writers

  • Benjamin Percy, Iowa State University
  • Grant Tracey, University of Northern Iowa
  • B.J. Love, Iowa Writers' Workshop
  • Deb Marquart, Iowa State University
  • Carol Spaulding-Kruse, Drake University
  • Yasmina Madden, Drake University

2010 Festival

Authors

  • Jonas Agee, University of Nebraska
  • CJ Hribal, Marquette University
  • Camille Dungy, San Francisco State
  • Kevin Stein, Illinois ​

 

 

  • For additional information, contact Celebration of Literary Arts Coordinator, Marc Dickinson, 515-964-6221