Lighting up the prairie for 30 years
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Prairie Lights Books has been an Iowa City staple since 1978. Former UI student Jim Harris stopped working on his history dissertation in order to found the shop. Last year, he sold a share of the business to Jan Weissmiller and friend Jane Mead.
Weissmiller is a longtime Prairie Lights employee who started working there part-time in 1979 while attending the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. She works Prairie Lights’ floor alongside 32 other staff members.
More than just a place to buy books, the shop also sells coffee (the Java House’s original location is on Prairie Lights’ second floor).
“Live from Prairie Lights”
The nationally recognized bookstore is well-known for its series “Live from Prairie Lights.” While readings occurred occasionally since the store’s opening, the series really ignited in 1990. Authors come from all over the country and world to share their works with Iowa City audiences.
Every “Live from Prairie Lights” session is streamed online via the Writing University website, writinguniversity.uiowa.edu, and many are broadcast on cable station UITV.
“Live from Prairie Lights” happens as frequently as four times a week, and the subject matter varies greatly.
( Daily Iowan video feature )
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Taking care of students
Every year for fall and spring semesters, Prairie Lights staffers pull books for around 150 UI classes. Weissmiller said it’s a lot of work, but she and other employees enjoy doing it.
“At first, we just had the books that the Writers’ Workshop was using for their students, and then people in the English department started thinking it would be nice for their students to be able to come in here, too, because it’s an experience,” she said.
Paul Ingram is a bookseller and buyer who has worked at the store for 20 years and enjoys what he does. He said the store offers books mainly for humanities classes because the texts are smaller.
“When I first started, we might have had a few classes, such as Writers’ Workshop classes, that sold their books here,” he said. “As we increased in size, we had more room to hold textbooks, and so we began encouraging professors, at least professors who aren’t buying 900 copies of ‘Economics One’ or something like that, to give us a look.”
Deb Zisko, who has worked at Prairie Lights for the past 20 years, really enjoys when students invade the store to buy books.
“Oh, I think it’s great,” she said. “It’s always fun to have the new kids come in.”
Some of Prairie Lights’ most high-profile recent readings include:
Jane Hamilton, Laura Rider’s Masterpiece, April 23
Augusten Burroughs, A Wolf at the Table, April 7
Matthew Pearl, The Last Dickens, March 26
Marilynne Robinson, Home, Nov. 3, 2008
Sarah Vowell, Wordy Shipmates, Oct. 24, 2008
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