The Quad Cities’ 2020 was filled with the pandemic, protests, the derecho, and much more. On Monday, September 26 at 7:00 PM, the Bettendorf Public Library and Midwest Writing Center will take a look back with a panel event of three local authors who are included in the anthology “These Interesting Times: Surviving 2020 in the Quad Cities.” The live event will be held at the Bettendorf Public Library located at 2950 Learning Campus Dr. in Bettendorf. No registration is required to attend for in person attendance. The event is also open to virtual remote attendance. Registration for virtual... Read More

WVIK, Quad Cities NPR and the Midwest Writing Center have teamed up to produce a new podcast that examines the tumultuous time that was 2020. These Interesting Times, named after the MWC collection published in 2021, features 47 local writers reading pieces based on their experiences weathering the global pandemic. The podcast will be featured on the QuadCities.com podcast hub, and other forums. “2020 was a disaster…” reads the back cover of These Interesting Times. “In these moving and eloquent essays and poems, stories and artwork writers and artists of the Quad Cities report on the... Read More

Join Midwest Writing Center contributing writers as they present an online panel discussion of the book These Interesting Times: Surviving 2020 in the Quad Cities, on Tuesday, February 15 at 6:30pm. Register to receive a Zoom link by calling or visiting the Moline Public Library (309-524-2470) or sign up at //molinelibrary.com/events. In this program facilitated by Midwest Writing Center’s Sarah Elgatian, local authors reflect on the disasters of 2020 through this memorable and moving collection of poetry, essays, and artwork. You will hear from the anthology’s contributors about how they endured... Read More

There are over 475,000 stories in the six-county Quad-City region, but just 45 people will have their reflections of 2020 published in a new anthology – edited by the busy author/editor Misty Urban of Muscatine – called “These Interesting Times: Surviving 2020 in the Quad Cities.” It will be released (full disclosure: I’m one contributor) in late September by the Midwest Writing Center Press. Urban, a three-year member of the Rock Island-based MWC board, is an award-winning writer who has two new books out (including her first novel), and is teaching a new MWC series, “Crafting the... Read More