SPECTRA Lives! Jeffrey McDaniel Community Write-In & ReadingThurs. 4/23 at Rozz-Tox

Posted on by Ryan Collins

The Quad Cities’ longest running reading series welcomes award-winning poet and professor Jeffrey McDaniel to the QC on Thursday, April 23 at Rozz-Tox (2108 3rd Ave. Rock Island, IL).  

McDaniel will lead a community write-in prior to the readings at 7:00 p.m.; there will be short reading, followed by a prompt he developed. Copies of the reading will be available at no cost, and there will be time for participants to write and briefly discuss their work. Then at 8:00 p.m., McDaniel will give a reading, with local poets Sophia Best, Henry Morray, and Ryan Collins opening.

What a Poem Wants: New Poetry Critique Group at MWC, facilitated by Ryan Collins  

Posted on by Ryan Collins

The Midwest Writing Center is hosting a pay-what-you-can poetry critique group for “serious poets” — the next meeting is Wednesday, November 19 at 5:30 p.m. at their office in the Rock Island Public Library – Downtown branch. The group will be facilitated by poet and MWC Executive Director Ryan Collins.  

The group is open to poets who are actively working toward publishing their work and/or developing a new book or chapbook project, who have “a broad conception and appreciation of what a poem can be.” Collins said he hopes the group will be “an opportunity for poets writing adventurous work to engage and help each other find their poems’ most successful shapes.”

MWC Press Bookstore Open for Business!

Posted on by Ryan Collins

After much hassle & delay, our MWC Press bookstore is back up & running! All of our most recent titles are ready and available for purchase today — check out all the info here:

https://www.mwcqc.org/mwc-press/online-catalog/

We’re still updating some titles in our back catalog, but everything will be live soon!

MWC Offers New Writing Group — Memory Keepers: Next Meeting Tuesday 4/21 at RIPL Downtown

Posted on by Ryan Collins

One of the greatest gifts you can give to your children and future generations is to keep your family stories alive. Please join our new Memory Keepers Group as we come together with a common interest and goal to preserve our family stories through the written word.

The next meeting will be Thursday, November 20 from 1:00-2:30pm in the MWC office, ground floor of the downtown Rock Island Public Library, 401 19th St., Rock Island.

Announcing the Winners of Iron Pen 2026!

Posted on by Ryan Collins

Thanks so much to everyone who participated in Iron Pen 2026. We received many terrific entries, and our excellent judges— Kate Wiegele (nonfiction), Dan Woessner (fiction), and Kristen Sneed (poetry), who are last year’s winners in each category—had very difficult decisions to make in their evaluations. We appreciate everyone’s time and talents in making this year’s contest one of the most competitive we’ve ever had.

Without any further ado, here are the winners of the 2026 Iron Pen Contest, by category…