The Iowa City Book Festival would like three interns to help with every aspect of planning and promotion of the 2012 Festival. Interns must be in Iowa City for the summer of 2012.

1. Programming intern will assist the Programming Director and committee in all aspects of developing the festival program – researching potential authors, researching publishers and publicists, attending committee meetings and taking minutes.
2. Marketing intern will assist the Marketing and Communications Director and committee in all aspects of the marketing and publicity work for promotion – generating, organizing, and implementing various promotional plans, social media generation, media contact research, distributing promotional materials.
3. Fundraising intern will assist the Executive Director and committee in all aspects of fundraising for the ICBF – writing grant applications, working with donors, corresponding with local businesses, planning and implementation of fundraising events.

Some duties will be based on experience and skills of the intern, others on the need of the committee. Scope of responsibilities is to assist in planning and organizing for the Iowa City Book Festival.

** Please keep in mind that from Friday, July 6 through the weekend of July 13-15, a schedule of longer hours will be required.

Applicants should be aware that not all duties will be equally challenging, but all will be duties that are regularly performed by committee members during the process of planning the ICBF. Upon completion of the 2012 ICBF, the confident and successful intern will receive letters of recommendation from the ICBF planning committee.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Current enrollment or acceptance at the University of Iowa
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal
• Excellent computer skills and online research abilities

The ICBF committee expects the intern to work five to ten hours a week for the remainder of the Fall 2011 and Spring 2012 semesters, then ten to twelve hours per week in the summer which includes attending committee meetings. The intern will receive supervision and evaluation from Kristi Bontrager, Director, ICBF; Karen Fischer, Programming Director; and Allison Means, Marketing Director.

Please submit your resume to Kristi Bontrager, Director, Iowa City Book Festival (kristi-r-bontrager@uiowa.edu).

Novelists Elizabeth Berg and Jane Hamilton, journalist and historian Adam Goodheart, and poets Camille Dungy and Robyn Schiff are among a rich lineup of writers who will take part in the Iowa City Book Festival (ICBF) this summer, the University of Iowa Libraries announced today.

The ICBF is a three-day celebration of books, reading and writing presented by UI Libraries Friday, July 15 through Sunday, July 17. The book festival will begin on Friday with an author dinner in the Main Library. Saturday is festival day in Gibson Square with booksellers, music, children’s activities, food vendors, book arts demonstrations and readings and panel discussions. Sunday will be “A Day in the City of Literature.” Local businesses of all kinds throughout Iowa City, Coralville and North Liberty will participate with readings and special activities all day.

Berg will be the keynote speaker for the ICBF Author Dinner on Friday; she will also present a public program on Saturday as part of the Shambaugh Auditorium Author Series. Berg is the author of many bestselling novels, two collections of short stories and two works of nonfiction. “Open House” was an Oprah’s Book Club selection, “Durable Goods” and “Joy School” were selected as American Library Association Best Books of the Year, and “Talk Before Sleep” was short-listed for an American Booksellers Book of the Year Award. Her writing has been translated into 27 languages and she adapted her novel “Pull of the Moon” into a play that has been successfully performed on two stages in the Chicago area.

Hamilton will appear on Sunday with Paul Ingram from Prairie Lights for an ICBF edition of Paul’s Book Club. Hamilton’s first novel, “The Book of Ruth,” won the PEN/Ernest Hemingway Foundation Award for best first novel and was a selection of the Oprah Book Club. Her second novel, “A Map of the World,” was an international bestseller.

Goodheart will appear as part of the Shambaugh Auditorium Series. He is regular columnist for The New York Times’ acclaimed Civil War series, “Disunion.” His new work, “1861: The Civil War Awakening,” will be published in April. Goodheart is a historian, journalist and travel writer. His articles have appeared in National Geographic, Outside, Smithsonian, The Atlantic and The New York Times Magazine, among other publications. He is also the director of Washington College’s C. V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience.

Stephanie Kallos, author of “Sing Them Home,” the 2011 All Iowa Reads selection, will present on Saturday in the Shambaugh Auditorium Series. She has received the Raymond Carver Award and a Pushcart Prize nomination for her short fiction. Kallos’ first novel, “Broken for You,” won the Washington State Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Award and was chosen as a “Today Show” book club selection. “Sing Them Home” was a Pacific Northwest Independent Bookseller bestseller and a January 2009 IndieNext pick.

Festival programming on Saturday also includes UI Press award-winning authors Will Boast, “Power Ballads”; Julie Hanson, “Unbeknownst”; Thisbe Nissen, “The Good People of New York”; Josh Rolnick, “Pulp and Paper”; and Don Waters, “Desert Gothic.”

Fiction writers featured at the ICBF are Bonnie Jo Campbell, “Once Upon a River: A Novel”; Gregg Hurwitz, “You’re Next: A Novel”; Jeremy Jackson, “Hot Lunch”; Julie Kramer “Silencing Sam”; David Mullins, “Greetings from Below: Stories”; and Mary Helen Stefaniak, “The Cailiffs of Baghdad, Georgia: A Novel.”

Nonfiction writers include Jerry Harp, “For Us, What Music?: The Life and Poetry of Donald Justice”; John T. Price, “Man Killed by Pheasant and Other Kinships”; and Robin Romm, “The Mercy Papers: A Memoir of Three Weeks.”

Poets Camille Dungy, “Suck on Marrow”; Robyn Schiff, “Revolver” will headline the poetry readings.

In addition to children’s book characters and other hands-on activities for kids, the ICBF has expanded programming by inviting children’s and young adult authors: Ibtisam Barakat, “Al-Ta’ Al-Marbouta Tateer (Flight of the Tied T)”; Linda Gerdner, “Grandfather’s Story Cloth”; Claudia McGehee, “Where Do Birds Live?”; Sarah Prineas, “The Magic Thief”; Laurel Snyder, “Penny Dreadful”; and Tess Weaver, “Opera Cat.”

The UI Libraries again is partnering with the UI Press, Iowa City Public Library, the UNESCO City of Literature and Prairie Lights Book Store to organize ICBF. The ICBF receives significant support from Humanities Iowa as well as the Community Foundation of Johnson County, the City of Iowa City and MidWestOne Bank.

For more information about the ICBF, to register as a vendor at the festival or to submit a program idea for the Day in the City of Literature activities, please check the website: http://www.iowacitybookfestival.org.

Great cities of literature have great book festivals. Thanks to the Iowa City Book Festival, presented by The University of Iowa Libraries, Iowa City is no exception. The Iowa City Book Festival is the 2010 Iowa City/Coralville Area Convention and Visitors Bureau Attraction of the Year.

“The Iowa City Book Festival is just a wonderful addition to the rich literary tradition of our community,” said CVB President Josh Schamberger. “In just its second year, it has already become the kind of event that attracts residents and visitors alike to celebrate books, reading, and authors.”

Attendance at the 2010 edition of the festival was more than four times that seen in the inaugural year, in part due to a concerted effort to work with the retail community to host events in businesses on the final day of the festival. Those events, many of which were standing room only, complemented the impressive slate of readings and discussions that occurred earlier in the festival while attracting customers to the businesses that participated.

“We were very surprised to learn that the CVB recognized the Iowa City Book Festival presented by The University of Iowa Libraries as attraction of the year,” said University Librarian Nancy Baker. “We are thankful to the CVB, the other libraries in Johnson County, and our partners in the business community. We asked these organizations to take a chance on us and our idea, and together we created a great new event in Iowa City.”

One of the festival’s co-directors notes that the award suggests the event is meeting expectations.

“This award from the CVB is particularly gratifying as it recognizes one of our main goals for the festival: to develop an attraction that brings people to the University Library in celebration of our community’s rich literary and book arts heritage,” said Greg Prickman of The University of Iowa Libraries.

Co-director Kristi Bontrager of The University of Iowa Libraries is thankful for the support of a literary town:  “I think the success of the Iowa City Book Festival is due to the fantastic support we receive from this community. We are a community readers and writers. And for a couple of days in the middle of July, thousands of us come together to talk about books. What could be more fun?”

Marketing interns will assist in all aspects of the marketing and publicity work for promotion of the 2011 Iowa City Book Festival. Interns must be in Iowa City for the summer of 2011.

ICBF 2010 intern, Katelyn McBride says “The internship gave me experience in many different areas: event planning, community outreach, media relations, public relations, creative projects, writing and editing… you meet a lot of different people and do a lot of different things. I felt like a valuable asset to the planning committee. It’s a fun group to work with and a rewarding process to see all your hard work pay off with a successful weekend event.”

Some duties will be based on experience and skills of the interns, others on the needs of the committee. Scope of responsibilities is to assist in planning and organizing promotional plans for the Iowa City Book Festival; also to serve as primary tacticians in the execution of distribution of promotional materials, research, and social media management.

Specific Duties to include, but not limited to:

1. Attending committee meetings with Kristi Bontrager and Allison Means
2. Writing articles and conducting interviews about and with authors
3. Working to schedule interviews and planning for authors
4. Continuing development of potential partner list of local and regional businesses to be utilized as possible sponsors and/or partners in “A Day in the City of Literature,” and purveyors of event information
5. Maintaining and updating social media pages and platforms appropriate to publicize the ICBF (www.facebook.com/iowacitybookfestival)
6. Distributing promotional materials to all participating sites in the Iowa City Area
7. Creating logistical planning itineraries with regional potential partners for publicity and information distribution
8. Helping support and publicize upcoming fundraisers in the fall and spring semesters
9. Researching other events, festivals and area venues appropriate for material posting or physical presence in promoting the event
10. Assisting in Volunteer orientation prior to ICBF (weekend and weekdays)
11. Being available throughout the festival for duties as assigned, from set-up to tear down. ** Please keep in mind that from Friday, July 1 through the weekend of July 15 – 17, a schedule of longer hours will be required.

Applicants should be aware that not all duties will be equally challenging, but all will be duties that are regularly performed by committee members during the process of publicizing the ICBF. Upon completion of the 2011 ICBF, the confident and successful intern will be able to receive letters of recommendation from the ICBF planning committee.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Current enrollment or acceptance at the University of Iowa
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal
• Photoshop, InDesign, Powerpoint, and Microsoft Suite experience desired

HOURS

Start date: Thursday, September 23, 2010
End date: Monday, July 18, 2011

Fall 2010 Semester (Sept. 23 – Nov. 30): 2-5 hours/week
Spring 2011 Semester (Jan. 19 – May 2): 10-15 hours/week
Summer 2011 (June 1 – June 30): 15-20 hours/week
July 1 – the Festival: 20+ hours

APPLICATION

Please answer question below and return via email only to kristi-r-bontrager@uiowa.edu before September 13.

Name

Address

Phone

Student ID

E-mail

Describe any course work or job experience that involved any aspects of publicity, marketing or public relations.

What skills make you a good candidate for this position?

What are your career goals? Be specific as possible.

Describe your computer skills.