Rooftop Reading Series

Our Rooftop Reading Series continues on Friday August 30th. Join us on the lovely deck atop Market House for an evening interweaving local live music, poetry and prose from some of our areas most exciting artists. Bring a buddy or a date or come solo. Stay for a drink and the spectacular views. Our August event brings together poet Margaret Yapp, prose writer Lyz Lenz and musician Brian Johannesen. We couldn't be more excited for this powerhouse trio to perform. 

Lyz is a New York Times bestselling author, whose writing has appeared in The Washington Post, the Columbia Journalism Review, The New York Times, and others. Her book God Land was published in 2019, through Indiana University Press. Her second book Belabored, was published in 2020 by Bold Type Books. Lyz’s essay “All the Angry Women” was also included in the anthology Not that Bad edited by Roxane Gay. Her third book, This American Ex-Wife, published in 2024, was an instant New York Times best seller. She is also the host of the This American Ex-Wife podcast.

Lyz received her MFA in creative writing from Lesley University. She lives in Iowa with her two kids and two dogs. She writes a regular newsletter, Men Yell At Me, where she explores the intersection of politics and our bodies in red-state America.

Margaret Yapp is from Iowa City, Iowa. She is the Managing Editor at Prompt Press and runs Rampage Party Press. Margaret has an MFA in poetry from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and is currently an MFA candidate at the University of Iowa Center for the Book. She has taught classes in literature, creative writing, and book arts for the University of Iowa and Iowa City Poetry. Green for Luck is her first book.

Brian Johannesen is an Iowa City singer-songwriter in the vein of John Prine, Guy Clark, and Steve Earle. Through a fingerpicking guitar style and a gritty, well-traveled voice, Johannesen writes songs that carry equal parts comedy and gravity. He brings a style to the long Americana tradition that is uniquely his own.

Website: https://brianjohannesen.com/