Summer Programs
Weekly summer visits to Cole’s Mobile Home Court provide reading enrichment, creative activities, and fresh snacks for elementary-aged residents.
THANKS SO MUCH to the Community Foundation of Johnson County for providing funding to give our summer camp leaders a stipend for their great work. http://www.communityfoundationofjohnsoncounty.org
Elementary Programs
Who would you be as a superhero? This camp will answer that question while exploring character development, visual design, and storytelling. We will address alternative representations of superheroes and social issues that students care about, with an emphasis on accountability, self-empowerment, and social justice. Each student will imagine a superhero alter-ego unique to their own interests, creating a costume and written story for 
their character.
Superhero Gear is a special partnership between the Iowa City Press Coop and the IYWP
Do you love Harry Potter or wish you could be a wizard? Then sign up for our magic-filled summer camp, Word Wizardry! We’ll make our own wands, write spells, create potion recipes, and even have a Horcrux scavenger hunt. Find out if you belong in Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, or Slytherin through our Sorting Ceremony, and then work hard to earn the House Cup for your house! Prepare your witch hats and brooms because we are going to turn words into magic!
Word Wizardry is a special partnership between the Iowa City Public Library and the IYWP.
Teen Programs
Picture it:
One day after school, you find a photo of your beloved dog stuck inside your locker with the following note: “If you want to see Smitty McFurface again, meet me on the football field in ten minutes. COME ALONE.” Do you: a) Follow the note’s instructions exactly, b) Go to the football field but bring your best friend, or c) Take the note directly to the principal’s office?
If you’ve ever wanted to write a story that gives readers the freedom to seek their own destiny, this is the camp for you. We’ll explore the basics of choose-your-own-adventure storytelling and learn how to use free online tools to help organize and visually map multi-thread narratives. Students will create their own interactive adventure stories and turn them into digital, playable products.
Location Information: Iowa City Public Library, 123 North Linn Street, Iowa City. Please note: Monday, Thursday, & Friday: Computer Lab, 2nd Floor. Tuesday & Wednesday: Meeting Room D, 1st Floor Lobby.
Choose Your Own Adventure is a special partnership between the Iowa City Public Library and the IYWP.
Past Programs
Do you love Harry Potter or wish you could be a wizard? Then sign up for our magic-filled summer camp, Word Wizardry! We’ll make our own wands, write spells, create potion recipes, and even have a Horcrux scavenger hunt. Find out if you belong in Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, or Slytherin through our Sorting Ceremony, and then work hard to earn the House Cup for your house! Prepare your witch hats and brooms because we are going to turn words into magic!
Join us for a week of fun using art and words fused together to create amazing stories! Students may illustrate their own poetry, design the packaging for a new food they've invented, and give life to an adjective (what is Funny's favorite color?). We'll use writing in combination with mixed media methods, collage, and more to explore the playful possibilities of storytelling.
Gaulimaufry: a jumble of art, writing, and fun! is a special partnership between the Iowa City Press Coop and the IYWP
Podcasts are becoming a growing trend that young people turn to be entertained, informed, or educated. Now is the time to learn how to make your own! Held in collaboration with the Iowa Youth Writing Project, spend the week writing, editing, and recording your own podcast. Use your imagination as you choose to write a story, inform others about current events, or how to complete a specific task!
Podcast Making is a special partnership with Willowwind School and the IYWP.
What's in store for the human race? Do you picture a peaceful, technologically advanced society, or is your vision a bit more twisted? In this camp you'll create stories that document mankind's distant, and not-so-distant, future. We'll explore how dystopian fiction and shows like Black Mirror use future writing to make statements about the world today.
Monday: Meeting Rooms B & C
Tuesday-Friday: Meeting Room D
Future Writing is a partnership between IYWP and the Iowa City Public Library.
Experience this up and coming trend firsthand by creating your own video blog series! After gaining an understanding about what video blogging is, spend the week writing, recording, editing, and publishing your very own vlog! Campers will use their phones, iPads, or cameras to create their own short video, which will be published on Willowwind’s private YouTube channel!
Video Blogging is a special partnership with Willowwind School and the IYWP.
Work with the Iowa Youth Writing Project as you channel your favorite character to create your own comic book and/or zine. Students will develop their literacy and artistic skills by creating a finished book to take home at the end of the week.
Comics and Zines is a special partnership with Willowwind School and the IYWP.
Teens! Are you a writer who is seduced by images? A visual artist who can’t get enough of words? Come create a photo-booth-narrative, carve a poem, dabble in the world of Zines, compose inside a shadow box, and collaborate with local visual artists and writers. Each participant will have the opportunity to publish a piece on PromptPress! Register now and feel the love.
Image + Word 2017 is a special partnership between PromptPress and the IYWP.
Writers talk a lot about finding their voice. This is definitely an important thing to know once you're an established writer, but it's also vital to use writing as a process for finding out who you are and hearing your true voice. In this workshop, we'll use various forms of memoir to explore our selves. We'll write about our names, various parts of our Self (think of the film Inside Out), try out our actual voices with readings, and hear from people in our community about finding their voice.
If you love stories of fantasy, folklore, and mythology, come join a week of worldbuilding and creativity! We’ll make maps of new lands, write spells, discuss the finer points of magical creatures, dream up characters emerging into wild and mysterious predicaments, and turn the everyday scenes of Iowa City into enchanting and unfamiliar settings. Register now and get ready for writing, drawing, and plenty of magic!
Worlds Away is a special partnership between the Iowa City Public Library and the IYWP.
Are you ready to hunt for writing ideas off the beaten path? Then join this action-packed week of exploring with local author Delia Ray as she leads us on a tour of her favorite downtown historical landmarks. One day we’ll be opening “discovery trunks” at the Old Capitol Museum to get a rare peek at artifacts and treasures from the past. Another day we’ll head to Oakland Cemetery to see the legendary Black Angel monument and visit other grave sites guaranteed to stir the imagination and start the stories flowing. Come prepared for these and other time-travel adventures . . . and plenty of writing along the way!
HiSTORY Hunt! is a special partnership between the Iowa City Public Library and the IYWP.