Authors converge on Iowa City for Mission Creek

The Mission Creek Festival will host more than 30 literary events in multiple venues in downtown Iowa City, most of which are free and open to the public.

This year's literary track will highlight artists at the cutting edge of contemporary publishing, with a particular emphasis on 'Literature Within & Beyond Text,” exploring literary themes in traditional as well as nontraditional forms, including graphic novels, zines, monologues and more.

Mission Creek's sixth annual Lit Crawl on Friday, featuring nine readings and more than 50 authors in three hours. The festival also will host its seventh annual, all-day Literary Magazine and Small Press Book Fair, hosted by The Mill on Saturday, with free beer samples from New Belgium Brewery.

Full literary schedule:

Tuesday

l Alison Bechdel, 7:30 p.m. at The Englert Theatre, 221 E. Washington St. Free.

Wednesday

l Kembrew McLeod & Lisa Jane Persky, 5 p.m. at FilmScene, 118 E. College St. Free.

l Robyn Schiff & Mark Levine, 6 p.m. at Prairie Lights Books, 15 S. Dubuque St. Free.

l A Conversation w. Gary Groth (Fantagraphics), 7 p.m. at FilmScene, 118 E. College St. Free.

Thursday

l Paul Lisicky & Garth Greenwell, 6 p.m. Prairie Lights Books, 15 S. Dubuque St. Free.

l Janaka Stucky, Zachary Schomburg, Yonatan Gat, Kelly Schirmann & Anais Duplan, 8 p.m. at the Yacht Club, 13 S. Linn St. $8.

Saturday

l Sixth Annual Lit Crawl, 5 to 8 p.m. in downtown Iowa City. Free. More than 50 authors will represent more than 17 publishers and literary organizations, as well as MFA candidates from the University of Iowa's own Anthology Reading Series, the Iowa Youth Writing Project, the Writers of Color reading series and more.

l From 5 to 5:45 p.m.: Rookie Magazine & Iowa Youth Writing Project at Beadology, 220 E. Washington St.; Gulf Coast & CSU Poetry Center, Forbidden Planet, 111 S. Dubuque St.; Curbside Splendor & MAKE Magazine at NoDo, 5 S. Dubuque St.; POETRY Magazine & Ugly Duckling Presse at FilmScene, 140 N. Linn St.

l From 6 to 6:45 p.m.: Civil Coping Mechanisms & Entropy Magazine at Fox Head Tavern, 402 E. Market St.; Two Dollar Radio at White Rabbit, 112 S. Linn St.; Forklift, Ohio & H_NGM_N at Dublin Underground, 5 S. Dubuque St.

l From 7 to 7:45 p.m.: Writers of Color at HABA Salon, 212 E. Market St.; Spork Press & Action Books at Motley Cow Cafe, 160 N. Linn St.

l Peter Aguero with Shannon Cason & special guests, 10 p.m. at The Mill, 120 E. Burlington St. $15.

l Seventh Annual Literary Magazine & Small Press Book Fair, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at The Mill, 120 E. Burlington St.

l ICE CREAM: The Iowa City Expo for Comics and Real Eclectic Media, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Public Space One, 120 N. Dubuque St.. Free.

l The Making of the American Essay: John D'Agata & Richard Preston, noon at Prairie Lights Books, 15 S. Dubuque St. Free.

l Mission Boutique, feature music/literature pairings at/outside downtown boutiques, 2 to 5 p.m. in downtown Iowa City. Free.

l Richard Siken with Alexandra Kleeman, Jenny Zhang & Jose Orduna, 6 p.m. at The Mill, 120 E. Burlington St. Free.

l earthwords Release Party, 7 p.m. at Prairie Lights Books, 15 S. Dubuque St.

l Saul Williams, Psalm One, Akwi Nji & Lovar Davis Kidd, 8 p.m. at The Mill, 120 E. Burlington St. $15.