Join us for an evening with Mary Engle Burge as she shares her childhood experiences as a close observer of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop in the 1940s and ’50s. Mary’s rich stories stem from her interactions with the six writers who lived with the Engles, as well as many others who visited for shorter stints. After school, she spent countless afternoons at the Iowa Writers Workshop quonset hut, keenly observing her father and forming vivid memories of the community.
We will also feature readings from “American Child,” a sonnet sequence written by Paul Engle for Mary, read by Will Boutelle, the “boy next door” of the sonnets, who lived down the lane from the Engle family on Friendly Avenue in Iowa City.
