Books & Reading

A now retired school principal, Iowa's own Kittie Weston-Knauer picked up BMX racing at 40, when she was one of two women in the country racing in her age group.

Growing up in a deeply evangelical Midwest family, NPR's Sarah McCammon was strictly taught to fear God, obey him and not question the faith.

Canada geese, white-tailed deer, wild turkey - these are all species that were once rare in Iowa, but now are seemingly everywhere.

In 1869, Iowa was directly in the path of a total solar eclipse.

THe University of Iowa is home to the country's oldest literary translation program. Experts discuss why the program is renowned. And Kelsey Bigelow shares a lifetime of hurt and healing in her new poetry collection

Carol Roh Spaulding discusses her award-winning short story collection, plus a look at Iowa's annual prairie chicken festival

Two eaglets hatched right on time this past week at a nest monitored by the Raptor Resource Project near Decorah.

Writer Kaveh Akbar about his debut novel, "Martyr!" Then wildlife rehabilitators discuss the persistent problem of lead poisoning in Iowa's birds.

Thirteen years after the release of his internationally bestselling novel, The Book Thief, author Markus Zusak has emerged with a novel he describes as his most personal yet.

One of the great secrets of Iowa sports history is that the Hawkeye State had a professional basketball team.